WASHINGTON – On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly promised to “shut down” the US Department of Education if he regained the White House.

“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, rather than supporting a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, DC,” he said. said in October. “We want to shut down the Federal Department of Education.”

But delivering on that promise is easier said than done. Dismantling the agency — which provides billions of dollars each year to low-income public schools and billions more to help millions of Americans pay for college — would likely require support from congressional Democrats (who vehemently oppose the idea).

And while many Republicans in Congress have echoed his pledge, Trump doesn’t have 100 percent buy-in from the Republican side of the aisle. Some in the GOP have argued that the Department of Education would be better left intact because it could play a critical role in implementing Trump’s policy agenda.

While it’s uncertain how much of Trump’s rhetoric might become reality, here are four key things to know about the small but mighty agency:

Ensures K-12 schools comply with important federal laws

The logic behind Trump’s pledge to abolish the Department of Education is that, as he has said, US education policy needs to be devolved.back to the states.”

However, K-12 school education is already managed largely at the state and local level. Public schools are primarily controlled by school boards and obtain most of their funding through appropriations from state legislatures and local sources, usually in the form of property taxes.

However, the federal government provides about a tenth of public school funding – which is a small but significant part of their budgets. To continue getting this money, schools must comply with federal laws.

This is where the Department of Education steps in. The agency, which became a cabinet-level department in 1979 and has several thousand employees, is located in the nation’s capital (but has regional offices throughout the country). Writes regulations that help clarify and implement laws written by Congress.

To continue receiving federal funding, schools must comply with those laws, which, among other things, protect students and teachers from discrimination and ensure that students with disabilities are taught appropriately.

It oversees colleges and administers federal student aid

The Department of Education also oversees the nation’s colleges and universities, almost all of which receive federal funds.

Any student who has completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, must interact with the Department of Education, which administers the form. The federal Pell Grant, which is free money the government gives low-income students to pay for college, is also overseen by the department — as is the nation’s nearly $2 trillion portfolio of federal student loans. dollars.

In short, the agency plays an important role in ensuring that US students can afford a college degree. And much of the money in its coffers is contingent on schools proving they can give students their money’s worth.

Dismantling the agency would likely require the support of Senate Democrats

Abolishing the department, as proposed by Trump and other newly elected Republicans in Congress, would require an act of Congress.

Although the GOP will likely have a majority in Congress in both chambers, passing a bill to close the agency would mean bringing some Democrats on board. A threshold of 60 votes needed to pass legislation in the Senate would be a big hurdle for Trump to fulfill his promise, experts say.

The controversial conservative blueprint Project 2025 outlines how offices within the Department of Education could be split up and transferred to other federal agencies. But it’s unclear whether Trump agrees with the specifics of that proposal and has disavowed Project 2025 altogether. He hasn’t laid out a more detailed plan of his own outlining how he would close the department.

Michael Itzkowitz, who served in the Department of Education during the Obama administration, said he does not foresee the agency disappearing during Trump’s second term in the White House.

“They’re more likely to look to cut certain programs that they don’t agree with,” he said.

Many civil servants usually keep their jobs regardless of the president

Whether the agency survives another four years, a sense of dread has already set in among many employees about what Trump’s next term will bring. That anxiety is part of a general malaise among federal service workers whose jobs could become more precarious if Trump enacts policies he has suggested would dismantle the so-called “deep state.”

Jared Bass, a senior vice president at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, said he was concerned about an “exodus” of civil servants who usually do their jobs regardless of who is president.

“He’s not trying to score political points for anybody,” he said. “Eliminating the Department of Education entirely would take a machete, when we should be using a scalpel, to some of the challenges facing our nation.”

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow X at @ZachSchermele.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 4 things to know about Trump’s vow to close the Department of Education