Eight former and current staffers at the US Education Department expressed their displeasure with a recent Supreme Court ruling, which they believe will undermine the significant laws impacting colleges and K-12 institutions.
Andrew Davis wanted protection after other students wrote homophobic comments into the door of his college dorm room. Sydney Greenway hoped to avoid buying another with the equivalent of a week’s groceries.
Tashiana Bryant-Myrick wanted her family’s future to be freed from the burden of student loan debt. The US Department of Education has long been able to intervene in these situations to a certain degree. However, a Supreme Court ruling over a week ago limited the agency’s ability to assist common people. The news came as a crucial deadline for schools to executive key regulations, which now stands less certain in court.
Three current and five former Education Department staffers, some of whom are not permitted to speak in public, told the media that they think it will make it difficult for the agency to monitor the nation’s educational system.
Army Laitinem, a former senior policy advisor on higher education at the Education Department and the White House, expressed her concerns about the move’s implications. She stated, “I don’t think there is any doubt that it will be bad for students and taxpayers.”
State and local governments in the United States are mostly responsible for determining education policy. Congress generally takes its time to pass new laws regarding government action, such as keeping LGBTQ+ students safe, keeping textbook costs down, and controlling student loan debt. The main federal law governing colleges has not been fully renewed since 2008.
Lawmakers often put helping students last on their to-do lists. The Education Department’s role in supervising institutions, particularly colleges, has expanded.
In addition to managing around $2 trillion in federal student loan debts, the agency protects teachers and students from discrimination as the Islamophobia and antisemitism that erupted on college campuses this year amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. In the Obama and Biden administrations, the agency has shown a stronger determination to act against unscrupulous colleges. The consequences can be disastrous when anything goes wrong, like providing financial aid for colleges, which becomes a crisis this year.
That authority may now be in jeopardy due to the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo ruling. The conservative Supreme Court rejected on June 28 a 40-year-old precedent known as “Chevron deference,” established by the 1984 case Chrevon v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which granted federal agencies discretion to clarify unclear laws passed by Congress.
The largest union for educators, The National Education Association, issued a warning, stating that children across the country would “pay a price” for the demise of Chevron’s deference. Meanwhile, conservatives and for-profit institutions have celebrated the decision, viewing it as a long setback for big government.
According to Jadon Altmire, president of the group of Career Education Colleges and Universities, which represents for-profit universities, the current US Department of Education “has overreached more in exceeding congressional authority.”
Republicans in Congress and other supporters of the decision argued that federal regulators have become too powerful. They praised the Supreme Court for giving the judicial branch more power to interpret ambiguous laws.
While Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, criticized the Supreme Court for “yet another deeply troubling decision that takes our country backward,” the Education Department declined to comment.
How the court manages upcoming legal challenges will significantly impact how the ruling affects schools. Should the recent ruling by the federal judiciary serve as an indicator of future developments, the Biden administration’s educational agenda in the United States may face significant challenges.
While federal restrictions have always been subject to legal challenges, Vanessa Miller, an assistant professor of education law at Indiana University Bloomington, noted that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling has further undermined these protections.
“It’s hard to predict how it will pan out,” she added. “That’s the scary and complicated part.”
