Erica Meltzer

Erica Meltzer

National Editor

Erica Meltzer is National Editor at Chalkbeat, where she covers education policy and politics. Erica was a founding editor of the local news site Denverite. Before that, she covered everything from housing and energy policy to crime and courts for newspapers in three states. She served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay. Reach her at: emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.

Multiple laws say the Education Department is responsible for overseeing funding and services for children with disabilities. Shifting that to another agency would require an act of Congress, several experts said.

Legally, only Congress has the power to eliminate the department. But the Trump administration recently laid off nearly half its staff.

The layoffs represent a significant escalation of Trump’s efforts to reduce the department’s role in education

The executive order would be the culmination of the president’s attacks on the agency that date back to his 2016 campaign.

Linda McMahon says the department should refrain from ‘overreach’ and return power to states. President Donald Trump has vowed to dismantle the agency.

Now confirmed as education secretary, the ex-pro wrestling executive must grapple with a slippery task: overhaul an agency that Trump says he wants to dismantle.

Trump’s Education Department threatened the federal funding of schools and colleges with diversity practices.

The Trump administration has said it’s cutting waste in education research. Families and schools have a different take.