𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has voiced his support for President Donald Trump’s decision to dismantle the US Department of Education. However, he made a significant error in his social media post that has been labelled as “ironic” by other users.

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday (March 20) instructing US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education” within the bounds of the law.

Following the signing of the order, Musk, who also heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and serves as Trump’s Senior Advisor, took to his own social media platform, X, to comment on the decision.

His post featured a popular meme of a person kneeling before a grave, with Trump’s face superimposed over the original figure and the Department of Education logo marking the grave. However, Musk misspelled “Department of Education” as “Departmen of Education”, omitting the final “T”.

This error was quickly picked up by social media users, who pointed out the irony of making such a mistake while celebrating the dismantling of the Department of Education.

One individual mocked: “Misspelling Department when celebrating getting rid of education is extremely insane work.”

A second person added: “This man is working with the PRESIDENT and can’t spell department.”

Meanwhile, another commented: “You misspelled ‘department’, thus proving why we need a departmenT of education, and why you should have studied something other than money.”

Despite the proposed dismantling of the Department of Education, officials have guaranteed that “formula funding” for schools, safeguarded by US legislation, will remain untouched. This includes critical initiatives like Title I designated for high-poverty schools and the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP), delivering funds to impoverished and rural educational institutions.

However, recent updates suggest that an overwhelming number of analytic experts stationed in the office charged with allocating these funds will soon face unemployment. As a result, the methods of grant distribution and their future well-being hang in the balance.

NPR has reported that at the beginning of this year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) – who oversee the distribution of these school grants – housed over 100 employees, but by Friday (March 21) all but three are expected to be sent on administrative leave, outlining a clear path to their subsequent layoff.

Matthew Gardner Kelly, an academic at the University of Washington who delves into the nation’s K-12 financing framework, predicts that the repercussions of these layoffs will be dire, particularly affecting schools in economically disadvantaged regions.

He warned: “It’s not just that loss of information. It’s what will happen to a school district’s budget in the absence of funds that can’t be allocated without the necessary staff at NCES.”

Trump’s executive action aimed to shift control over education back to “the States and local communities”. However, while grants like Title I and REAP were overseen by a federal agency that determined which districts were eligible, it was always up to local leaders to decide how the money was spent.

NCES played a crucial role in providing expertise, oversight, and guidance to local leaders. A former NCES employee who retired in 2022 revealed to NPR that the agency would field “thousands of calls” annually from schools seeking advice on budget planning for the upcoming academic year.

With the Department of Education and the NCES in jeopardy, the future remains uncertain for schools regarding the allocation of grants and access to essential guidance.