(Colorado Newsline)

Three former secretaries of the U.S. Department of Education took to a Brookings Institution panel on Tuesday to offer more perspective on President Donald Trump’s calls to dismantle the federal agency, among other education-related priorities of the new administration.

Trump — who repeatedly pledged to get rid of the department throughout his campaign — has vowed to “save American education” with a focus on parental rights, universal school choice and funding preferences for states and school districts that adhere to his sweeping education vision.

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In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump said “we have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases, to hate our country despite the love that we try so desperately to provide to them.”

“All of this will change starting today, and it will change very quickly,” Trump said, going on to enact a barrage of executive orders later on Monday and undo some of former President Joe Biden’s most consequential efforts in protecting LGBTQ+ students.

Trump’s pick for Education secretary, Linda McMahon, could be pivotal to making more of his education vision a reality.

McMahon, who has yet to sit before a U.S. Senate panel for her confirmation hearing, is a former World Wrestling Entertainment executive, the prior head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first administration and a wealthy donor.

She is likely to be confirmed in the GOP-controlled Senate.

In the meantime, Trump named Denise Carter as acting secretary of Education. Prior to stepping into the post, she was the acting chief operating officer of the department’s Office of Federal Student Aid — the largest student financial aid provider in the country.

‘Kind of an old saw’

Trump’s vow to abolish the department is one that experts have viewed with skepticism over the complex logistics, the need for bipartisan congressional approval and the redirection of federal programs that would be necessary.

Margaret Spellings, who was Education secretary under then-President George W. Bush, said the push for abolishing the department is “kind of an old saw that has been around for a long time.”

“Obviously, there’s maybe more seriousness around it this time as we think about slicing and dicing and relitigating the federal role, and I think that’s an appropriate conversation, I mean, we ought to do that,” Spellings said.

Arne Duncan, Education secretary under then-President Barack Obama, compared Trump’s promise to get rid of the department to his “saying he’s going to build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it, which is stuff he says.”

“No one ever seems to hold him accountable for lies, false promises, but that’s what’s going to happen,” he said.

‘Sex’ rather than ‘gender’ order

On his first day back in office, Trump also issued a slew of wide-ranging executive orders including that the federal government should only recognize “two sexes: male and female,” and that federal agencies should use the term “sex” and not “gender” in all federal policies and documents.

The order also calls for federal agencies to “end the Federal funding of gender ideology.”

He also rescinded a series of Biden-era executive orders, including certain directives regarding LGBTQ+ students.

“I think about LGBTQ students and how they might feel based on the statements from the administration so far and the executive order yesterday,” said former Education Secretary John B. King Jr., who also served under the Obama administration.

King said he worries about “low-income students, about students of color, where we still see huge opportunity gaps, and so all of us need to be asking, ‘Who’s championing the needs of those most vulnerable students?’”

King said he also thinks about “the impact on undocumented students or students from mixed-status families, of the conversation about mass deportation and the fear that that instills in them and their families.”

Trump’s deluge of executive orders signified his immigration crackdown, including a move to end birthright citizenship in the United States, which has already drawn legal challenges.

Colorado Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Colorado Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Quentin Young for questions: info@coloradonewsline.com.