The long-overdue reckoning for the U.S. Department of Education appears to be at hand—and few are feeling the tremors more than American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. For decades, Weingarten and her allies in the teachers' unions have relied on the federal leviathan as a power center, a political shield, and a policy weapon. Now, with the Trump administration poised to dismantle the Department via executive order and return education oversight to states and local communities, that shield is cracking—and so is the narrative that has long protected it. In what some are calling one of the most consequential shifts in modern education policy, President Trump is expected to sign an EO that strips the federal government of its bloated authority over public schooling. It's a return to pre-1979 norms, before Jimmy Carter carved out a cabinet-level Department of Education as a thank-you gift to the unions that buoyed his campaign. With this move, Trump isn’t simply trimming bureaucratic fat; he’s effectively severing a decades-old alliance between the Democratic political class and public sector unions that have enjoyed unrivaled influence over curriculum, standards, and funding.

Randi Weingarten: Most public school kids are disabled, poor, or rural. pic.twitter.com/51pJjmK9Tc

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) March 20, 2025

Randi Weingarten’s response has been as theatrical as it is inaccurate. Making the rounds on CNN, she paints a dystopian picture in which vulnerable students—disabled, impoverished, and rural—are left to fend for themselves in the absence of federal guardianship. But as the data shows, her alarmism doesn’t hold up. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 15% of public school students receive special education services, and 19% live in rural areas. While low-income students make up about half of all public school attendees, the nutrition assistance she invokes is actually handled not by the Department of Education, but by the USDA—now under the direction of Brooke Rollins. In short, federal dismantling won’t touch those programs. What it will touch, however, is the entrenched power of unions that have prioritized political agendas over academic excellence. The same unions that lobbied to keep classrooms closed during COVID, pushed divisive ideological content into K-12 curriculums, and fought accountability at every turn. Their influence—especially at the federal level—is set to decline, potentially to zero. If this shift succeeds, it won't be a loss for students—it will be a loss for bureaucrats, ideologues, and gatekeepers who believed they had a permanent grip on America’s children. Instead, it signals a restoration of localized control, parental involvement, and educational diversity. And for countless families—especially those navigating the labyrinth of federal red tape for special education services—it could mark the beginning of a far more responsive and human-scaled system.