School Funding, Venezuelan Deportation Hearing, Key Bridge Inspection
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Why is President Trump shutting down the Department of Education?
President Trump is trying to shut down the Department of Education.
We're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs.
How will the move impact rural and low-income students?
I'm A. Martinez, that's Leila Fadal, and this is Up First from NPR News. A judge wants answers from the Trump administration on why it deported more than 200 Venezuelan migrants after a court order said stop. What will the government say when they're forced to explain?
And a new report found that if Maryland had done needed assessments on the Francis Scott Key Bridge, it could have prevented its collapse last year.
These bridge owners need to be looking at recent vessel traffic. Things have changed over time.
Thank you.
This is Tanya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. You'll see your favorite actors, directors and comedians on late night TV shows or YouTube. But what you get with Fresh Air is a deep dive. Spend some quality time with people like Billie Eilish, Questlove, Ariana Grande, Stephen Colbert and so many more. We ask questions you won't hear asked anywhere else. Listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY.
President Trump is using his executive power to try and shut down the U.S. Department of Education.
We're going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs. And this is a very popular thing to do. But much more importantly, it's a common sense thing to do.
It's not popular, though, with a majority of Americans. That's according to a recent NPR PBS News Marist poll. The administration has promised that certain federal education grants, including for low-income and rural schools, would be preserved. But by this evening, many of the workers who help get that money to those schools will be out of a job.
How will the shutdown of the Department of Education affect rural and low-income students?
NPR education reporter Janaki Mehta has been following the story and joins us now. Hey, Janaki. Hey, Layla. So, Janaki, let's start with the executive action President Trump signed yesterday that aims to eliminate the education department. And we expected this, but can the president just eliminate the Department of Education?
No, that actually requires an act of Congress. The action essentially tells the Secretary of Education to take all steps towards eliminating the department to the maximum extent possible under the law. And like I said, it does require Congress. Well, we've already seen the Trump administration move towards that goal by cutting the department workforce nearly in half. Many of the department's employees are going to have their last day today before being put on administrative leave.
So even without an act of Congress, the steps begin now. And your reporting has found that nearly the entire staff of the Education Department's data agency is being laid off. What exactly does that agency do?
Yeah, so the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, has been the central source of data about education in the U.S. for more than 150 years. At the start of this year, more than 100 people were working there, and after today, just three NCES staff will remain. That's according to multiple employees at NCES and an internal email we reviewed. And nearly all the data experts responsible for determining whether schools qualify for certain federal grants will soon be out of jobs. So this data agency being eliminated, what does it mean for schools? So part of what NCES works on are known as formula grants for schools, things like Title I, which goes to low-income schools, and also funding for rural schools through the Rural Education Achievement Program. Those are just two examples, but if there aren't data people crunching these numbers, employees tell us it's going to be really hard for schools to get that money.
I talked to Amy Price-Azano, who leads the Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech, and she said, It's important to remember the students on the other side of this money.
When we talk about percents and all of this, we forget that that's a real kid. And so how will those kids have everything that they need to be successful in school, to be safe in school?
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