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Nothing characterizes the Trump administration so much as its certainty that government efforts to make things better never work. Whatever the public problem, the administration is certain that its solution involves 鈥� doing less to try and solve it. 

For instance, , President Donald Trump called himself an 鈥渆nvironmentalist,鈥� and promised 鈥渞eally clean water鈥� and 鈥渞eally clean air鈥� if he were reelected. Upon returning to the White House, he restarted , radically reducing and devoted to protecting the nation鈥檚 air and water quality. 

The administration is trying the same tack with education, where it鈥檚 has been zealous in its efforts to improve U.S. schools by doing less. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has dismantled her department and fired with expertise on protecting students鈥� civil rights, advancing cutting-edge education research, administering financial aid programs in higher education and more. Just , its 2027 budget proposal requests major cuts to a wide range of federal grants, including programs that supported McMahon鈥檚 of improving early literacy. 

In April, McMahon reinforced this pattern by closing her department鈥檚 Office of English Language Acquisition. As Chalkbeat鈥檚 Erica Meltzer wrote: 鈥淭he Office of English Language Acquisition already was decimated in early rounds of layoffs. Last August, the department quietly rescinded guidance that many states and school districts rely on to protect the rights of immigrant students.鈥�

While the Trump administration has loudly about immigrants learning English and fully acclimating to the United States, this latest move is simply the most recent of a long series of actions slashing supports for immigrants integrating into American society. Its choice to close the Office of English Language Acquisition is best understood, then, as another textbook case of the administration vowing to address a problem by trying less hard to solve it. 

The office has existed in various forms since 1979 鈥� it has been in its recent iteration since No Child Left Behind鈥檚 passage in 2002. During that (almost) quarter century, it has run a regular grants competition called the . The grants 鈥� 鈥� support training for teachers to ensure that they are prepared to meet the diverse needs of English learners in U.S. classrooms. 

For several periods during that time 鈥� including 鈥� the office also oversaw the Department of Education鈥檚 core English learners investments, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act鈥檚 Title III formula grants. This program鈥檚 annual budget is usually between and , and it funds English language instructional programs for English learners in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. 

Notably, the administration tried to last summer 鈥� but later released them . It proposed zeroing out these programs in its budget proposal , but Congress ignored the request and funded Title III at $890 million. It proposed the same defunding again . 

These repeated assaults on linguistically diverse kids are inseparable, of course, from Republicans鈥� comprehensive attacks on immigrants and their families. That鈥檚 because, while , many have immigrant parents, grandparents or other family members. Republicans in Congress 鈥� and 鈥� are trying to deny some children of immigrants access to public education. Worse yet, Republicans鈥� campaign terrorizing kids staying from in . 

Though the administration hasn鈥檛 been able to end national investments in supporting students鈥� English learning, it is making these investments less effective by .. 

On paper, the closure shouldn鈥檛 affect the levels of federal English learner funding or the programs that the office once managed. Unfortunately, it鈥檚 hard to imagine other offices in the short-staffed Education Department being able to instantly pick them up and administer them as efficiently. Indeed, because of the Trump administration鈥檚 other education bureaucracy shuffles, Title III grants will now move to the Department of Labor, which is . 

This will not work. Students will not learn English faster if Title III funds are reduced or eliminated. They will not be helped by casting national grants supporting students鈥� English learning across the Education Department and to other parts of the federal bureaucracy.  That鈥檚 because shows that school districts use these funds for eminently sensible things, like family and community engagement, teacher training and rethinking their language instruction programs. 

Data on the efficacy of the federal government鈥檚 English learner programs are limited. It鈥檚 difficult to isolate the impacts of large federal policies and reforms on particular subgroups of students. Still, there is evidence that English learners benefitted from federal policies shaping their educational opportunities since 2002. found that linguistically diverse kids made significantly more academic growth in the first decade after No Child Left Behind than monolingual, English-dominant children. 

that former English learners who have mastered English have higher proficiency rates in math and literacy than current English learners. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, former English learners have higher math and literacy proficiency rates than the overall averages for all students 鈥� that is, former English learners are also outscoring their English-dominant peers.

But let鈥檚 be honest: It feels hopeless to trot out pedestrian things like research and evidence to show that this is a bad idea. You can鈥檛 solve an educational challenge by eliminating the organizations trying to attend to it, just like you can鈥檛 tone your muscles and lose weight by canceling your gym membership and throwing out your home exercise equipment. 

This is not a serious strategy and it鈥檚 pointless to pretend otherwise. The only thing to do is to insist, loudly, that our current leaders are wrong 鈥� and to undo their mistake as soon as they are no longer in power.

The views expressed here are Conor P. Williams鈥檚 alone, and do not reflect those of his employer or any other affiliated organizations.

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