Trump Education Department Changes: Key Updates and Impacts on Schools

In 2025, the Trump administration began extensive changes to the U.S. Department of Education, representing a new direction for federal education policy. The proposed reforms entail reorganizing key offices, reducing staff, and changing the direction and purpose of funding, all while espousing local control of schools. The administration also issued new ideological guidelines about K-12 curricula, guidelines about higher education, and changes to student loans and federal grants. 

Proponents argue that these revisions streamline operations and give states greater control, while critics fear that they will ultimately reduce federal involvement in the education system, lead to more inadequate funding for schools, and diminish protections for marginalized students. As schools across the country adjust to these changes, educators, policymakers, and families are left to navigate a transformational moment that may ultimately reshape educational access, equity, and accountability in American education.

Check Out: U.S. Education Under Donald Trump: Major Changes and Key Initiatives in 2025

Trump Education Department Changes

Here are some of the major trump education department changes along with statistics and numbers: 

Major Reduction in Workforce and Organizational Restructuring

Reduction in Staff: The Education Department has significantly cut back on staff, laying off almost half of its employees. The staff total has decreased from almost 4,100 to nearly 2,100, which has had an enormous impact on the department’s capacity to function.

Reorganization of Offices: Major areas of work, such as the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), are being reorganized with sections of that work being reassigned to other federal entities. This restructuring has a major impact on the department’s ability to supervise programs and enforce policies across the nation.

Reductions in Funding: The administration has reduced hundreds of millions in contracts, claiming the need to eliminate bureaucracy and become more efficient.

Restructuring of Education Agency

The Trump administration has begun moving important functions of the Education Agency to other federal government agencies. 

For example, education grants for schools will go to the Department of Labor, education programs for Native Americans will go to the Department of Interior, education programs related to healthcare will go to HHS and education programs related to international education will move to the State Department.

These are just some elements of the administration's longer-term plan to reduce the scope of the agency, with the ambition of being fully dismantled in large sections.

Curriculum and Ideological Regulation

Recently adopted policies aim at K-12 education around gender identity, critical race theory, and equity programs; any school which does not comply could lose federal funding, and educators could face litigation under these new policies.

Civil Rights and Accreditation Changes

Civil rights enforcement is being curtailed and college accreditation is being modified to emphasize measureable student outcomes rather than diversity-related factors.

Conclusion

Changes to the U.S. Department of Education during the Trump administration signify a drastic change in the federal role in education in the United States, by downsizing the staff, changing the role of the agency, changing funding processes, and prioritizing ideological agendas into PreK through higher education.