PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Local officials have released reactions to Donald Trump’s Executive Order calling for the shutdown of the U.S. Department of Education. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said that the event is a “code red” to anyone who is involved with public schooling: This is a code red for every public school student, parent, and teacher in this country. Trump is telling public school kids in America that their futures don’t matter. Billionaires like Trump and Musk won’t feel the difference when after school programs are slashed, class sizes go up, and help for families to pay for school gets cut. But working families, students, and teachers will pay a heavy price. Sen. Jack Reed said he opposed the administration’s “efforts to slash K-12 education funding, layoff educators, and permanently shutter the department:” President Trump’s effort to abolish the U.S. Department of Education would shortchange students, undercut K-12 public schools nationwide, and make the cost of college even more expensive for working families.  We need to raise education standards, not lower them.  I will continue working to wisely invest in the best interests of students and taxpayers. I suspect President Trump may be upset when he learns the executive order he signed today doesn’t actually override the Constitution.  He lacks both the authority and requisite Congressional support to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.  I will do everything I can to oppose this wasteful, extremist attempt to shortchange students and hang school districts in need out to dry.  People want a President focused on the costs of food, housing and insurance, but tragically President Trump is focused on a host of ideological, right-wing hobby horses. Rep. Seth Magaziner said Rhode Island schools receive significant amounts of funding from the department, including services for special needs students: The Department of Education plays a vital role in ensuring every child has an equal opportunity to succeed and today, by ordering the dismantling of the department, President Trump has broken that commitment.  Rhode Island receives significant funding from the Department of Education to help students in every school district, and especially those with special learning needs, get access to the services they deserve. President Trump and Elon Musk’s push to slash education funding to finance tax breaks for billionaires is as reckless as it is shameful. Rep. Gabe Amo said the president “cannot take [the] action unilaterally” and promised to fight to keep the department open: Donald Trump’s directive to eliminate the Department of Education is shameful, cruel, and morally bankrupt. It accomplishes nothing except hurting America’s schoolchildren. The President cannot take this action unilaterally, which is why, alongside Democratic colleagues, I’ll… pic.twitter.com/Nsj0IsxyOl — Congressman Gabe Amo (@RepGabeAmo) March 20, 2025 Categories: News, US & World News ...read more read less