REP. ADAMS OPPOSES
TRUMP’S ATTEMPT TO
CLOSE DEPT. OF ED
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Amid President Trump’s campaign promise to “immediately” close the US Department of Education, and billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency's”(DOGE) attempt to cancel federal education grants, 12th District Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC) has spoken out, calling on Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson “to exert Congress’ authority” to stop what she calls “unconstitutional attacks on the ED ( Education Dept.).”
“Elon Musk’s ‘DOGE’ team has been inside the Department of Education for over a week attempting to cancel federal education grants and contracts,” a statement from Rep. Adams charged. “So far, 89 contracts and 29 grants have been terminated—including funding for diversity and equity programs– totaling over $900 million. Trump Administration officials know what they are doing is illegal, as they are ignoring the rulings of federal judges and the powers of Congress that are clearly laid out in the Constitution.”
“Millions of students around our nation rely on programs administered by the ED, including at nearly 100,000 public K-12 schools,” the statement continued. “These programs that our children rely on must be protected to ensure we build a diverse workforce for the future and improve economic inequality over the coming decades.”
“I again call on Speaker Johnson to exert Congress’ authority, and I will not rest until the 'Trump-Musk' Administration is stopped from unleashing their blatantly unconstitutional attacks on the ED,” Rep. Adams’ statement concluded.
Trump made his intentions clear about shuttering the 45-year-old Dept. of Education when reporters asked him about closing it during a Feb. 12th press conference in the Oval Office.
"Oh, I’d like it to be closed immediately,” the president replied. “Look at the Department of Education (DOE). It’s a big con job. They ranked the top countries in the world. We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40."
Trump then noted that China is the US’s “primary competitor,” but is ranked in the top five.
"So, if we’re ranked No. 40, that means something’s really wrong,” he concluded.
It’s been a month since Trump was inaugurated, and immediately on his first day in office, issued several executive orders, one of them calling for closing the DOE, claiming that like the rest of the federal government, it is rife with wasteful spending and fraud.
Constitutionally, however, Trump can’t just close DOE, because that would legally take an act of Congress. But the president directed billionaire Elon Musk to have his DOGE operatives to raid DOE headquarters, gain access to their computers, and cut $889 million in DOE contracts.
Of that $881 million, $101 million was devoted to DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) training. That falls in line with one of Trump’s other executive orders removing federal funding from K-12 schools that teach critical race theory (CRT).
For the record, CRT is not taught at the K-12 academic level. But thanks to conservative demagoguery, many white parents believe that it is.
Here in North Carolina, a white Wake County School Board member has received threats and antisemitic insults after saying at a Feb. 4th board meeting that “mediocre white men” have been hired for 250 years solely due to their skin color, and the DEI critics use the term disparagingly in place of just saying "Black people."
Eliminating DOE was one of Trump’s 2024 major campaign promises, and since his inauguration, dozens of DOE employees have been terminated. Former World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. co-founder Linda McMahon was nominated by Trump to become DOE secretary, and during her confirmation hearing last week, she agreed to work with Congress to closing the agency down permanently.
She committed “to reorient the department toward helping educators, not controlling them.” The Pell grants program would still be supported but in a different fashion, she maintained.
McMahon also agreed that some of the essential DOE programs should be moved to other sections of the federal government because many K-12 public school systems and college students needing tuition assistance are vitally dependent on the funding received.
There are also programs for poor special needs students that need to be maintained.
Per published reports, 63% of North Carolinians polled by Meredeth College do not want the DOE closed, while 30% do. Federal funding accounts for approximately 10% of North Carolina's K-12 education budget. The rest comes from state and local taxes..
At risk if DOE is permanently shuttered is Title 1 funding for low-income children , and the IDEA program, which provides funding to schools that teach children with disabilities. It's possible that other federal agencies could step in to administer these programs in the event that DOE is closed.
This is not the first time Trump has promised to shutter DOE. He did so during his first term in 2017, but Congress never followed through with his promise.
The agency reportedly employed over 4,245 workers, with its most recent budget at $251 billion.
Trump maintains that education should be the responsibility of all fifty states, without federal intervention. Many civil rights groups believe this leaves the door open for rampant discrimination to occur across the country without a federal authority to deal with it.
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STUDENT ENROLLMENT AT NCCU
LEADS UNC SYSTEM SCHOOLS AGAIN
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
For the second time in a row, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham led all 17 schools in the UNC System in student enrollment, the HBCU announced last week.
“NCCU saw an increase of 13.56% in enrollment, comparing Spring 2024 to Spring 2025. That is the largest increase among the 17 University of North Carolina System institutions,” reported the school on its website. That brings its current student population to 8,065.
And as noted, it’s not the first time. NCCU first led the 17-UNC System campus student enrollment in Fall 2024 with 7.71% over Fall 2023.
"NCCU's brand is just resonating in the market where students are looking for institutions like ours," Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ontario. S. Wooden, Ph.D said in a statement.
Administrators credit targeted student recruitment efforts to all 100 counties across the state. The undergraduate programs with the highest growth rate from last spring include:
- Business management
- Homeland security, law enforcement and firefighting
- Computer and information sciences
- Parks, recreation, leisure, fitness and kinesiology
- Psychology
Despite the mass flooding and destruction from Hurricane Helene, UNC Asheville also saw a 2025 spring semester uptick in student enrollment of 1.9% over a year ago.
The same with Appalachian State University with 2.25, and a 1.7% increase at Western Carolina University.
Student enrollment figures for the remaining UNC System campuses were not available at presstime. However, last fall, enrollment was up for the UNC System across the board, with an average 2.2% increase. That translated into 247,927 students, which included transfer and graduate students.
The overall system increase is notable because across the country, freshman enrollment was down by 5% compared to last fall, with public four-year schools experiencing an 8.5% drop.
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