The Beginning of The End
Chief Oligarch Musk begins takedown of Department of Education
The speculative phase is over.
We now know how the beginning of the end begins.
According to AP News, The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, has announced significant budget cuts totaling nearly $900 million in contracts to the Education Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). This move has resulted in the termination of 169 contracts, raising concerns about the future of educational research and data collection in the U.S.
This is phase one. And it will go fast.
Just ask the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). DOGE came into the consumer agency last week, told workers to stay home this week, and has now signaled it is essentially shutting down - sending back its next allocation of Federal Reserve funding.
And, for those saying the courts will stop Trump. That doesn’t seem to matter:
Trump and Musk don’t care. They are daring anyone to stop them.
Two things to note here:
DOGE isn’t cutting all these programs to “protect taxpayers” or eliminate waste. Nope. Instead, any savings will be absorbed by the hundreds of billions they plan to hand out in a second Trump Tax Scam.
Cutting research allows the ruling oligarchy to tell whatever story they want - and, these cuts are just the beginning.
Here’s a sample of what’s to come:
Title 1, which directs money to schools with high concentrations of students living in poverty and provides supports such as reading specialists and smaller class sizes, could be decimated if, as proposed in Project 2025, it is turned into block grants and handed over to individual states—without any sort of accountability or oversight. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, 180,000 teaching positions could be lost, affecting 2.8 million students in low-income communities.
Roughly 7.5 million students, or 15 percent of the student population, receive special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which provides $15 billion to support students with disabilities. This program could be transferred to another agency, making it significantly less likely that students with disabilities receive the services and support they need and deserve.
Many expect the White House to move the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights to the Department of Justice, a move that would severely weaken its ability to protect students against discrimination based on race, gender, and disability. The absence of strong federal oversight would leave millions of students vulnerable to discrimination, leading to lower levels of motivation and academic achievement and a higher risk of dropping out.
It’s all happening. And happening fast. Jobs will be lost, research stopped, lives impacted. And the oligarchy will march on.
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