(dot) Gov: What Trump's Plans Mean For The Department of Education

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🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

You've probably heard President-elect Donald Trump say he plans to close the Department of Education.

It's the smallest of the cabinet-level federal agencies, with just over 4,000 employees. Its 2024 budget was $275 billion. That's 4 percent of all federal funding.

Trump's plans to completely shutter the department are unlikely to happen. He may, however, make big changes to it, shifting many of its responsibility to other agencies.

But what are those responsibilities exactly? And who carries them out? As part of our series on federal workers, dot Gov, we're diving into the Department of Education today to talk about its functions and what the future president's plans for it mean for the American people.

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0:00.0	The Indicator is a podcast where Daily Economic News is about what matters to you.
0:04.5	Workers have been feeling the sting of inflation.
0:06.5	So as a new administration promises action on the cost of living, taxes, and home prices,
0:11.3	the S&P 500 biggest post-election day spike ever,
0:14.5	follow all the big changes and what they mean for you.
0:17.1	Make America affordable again.
0:20.4	Listen to The Indicator, the Daily Economics podcast from NPR.
0:27.8	You've probably heard this from President-elect Donald Trump.
0:35.0	We're going to take the Department of Education, close it.
0:38.0	Eliminating the Department of Education is something most experts, including our guests today,
0:42.2	think is unlikely. But the President-elect might make big changes to it, shifting a lot of its
0:48.2	responsibilities to other agencies. The Department of Education itself is the smallest of the
0:54.0	cabinet-level federal
0:54.9	agencies with more than 4,000 employees. It received more than $270 billion in federal funding last
1:01.8	year. That's 4% of all federal funding. Today, in the latest installment of our series on
1:07.8	federal agencies and workers called dot-gov, let's take into exactly what the Department of Education does from the beginning,
1:14.6	where it succeeds and falls short, and why it matters for Americans.
1:18.8	I'm Jen White, joined as usual on Mondays by Todd Zwillick,
1:21.6	and you're listening to the 1A podcast, where we get to the heart of the story.
1:25.4	We have a lot to get into after the break. Stay with us.
1:32.3	What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2025?
1:37.0	We don't know, but we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year.
	...

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