When the executive branch dismantles the federal Department of Education without congressional authorization — and the Office for Civil Rights loses more than half its staff in the process — what do religious traditions and constitutional principles say about education, civil rights enforcement, and the authority to abolish agencies Congress created?
Religious traditions across the world treat the education of children — and especially the protection of the most vulnerable children — as a moral foundation of any community. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to create executive departments and the responsibility to direct federal civil rights enforcement. The Department of Education exists because Congress created it; the Office for Civil Rights enforces statutes Congress enacted under the 14th Amendment. The executive branch can advocate for changes, propose legislation, and exercise discretion in implementation — it cannot unilaterally dissolve what Congress has built. The current dismantling tests whether that constitutional principle still binds. The children who depend on civil rights enforcement, special education protections, and federal student aid are watching the answer in real time.
Religious perspectives
Religious traditions place extraordinary value on education — and on the protection of children from exclusion or mistreatment in their learning.
Judaism: "Teach them diligently to your children" (Deuteronomy 6:7) is a foundational commandment. Jewish tradition established communal schools as early as the 1st century CE — among the first universal-education systems in human history. Maimonides ranked teachers among the highest moral categories of people. The principle: a community is morally measured by how it educates its children.
Christianity: The Protestant Reformation drove mass literacy across Europe because Reformers believed every person should read the Bible directly. The American common school movement was substantially driven by religious communities. The U.S. Catholic school system, the historically Black colleges and universities founded by churches, the Jesuit universities — all reflect a deep Christian commitment to education. Jesus himself was called "Rabbi" — teacher — and he taught publicly to anyone willing to listen, including women, children, and outsiders.
Islam: "Read! In the name of your Lord who created" (Quran 96:1-5) — the first words revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave" (Hadith). The first universities in continuous operation — Al-Qarawiyyin (859 CE) and Al-Azhar (970 CE) — were Islamic institutions. Islamic civilization built libraries, observatories, and centers of learning at a time when much of the world had little organized education.
Buddhism: Right Understanding is the first step of the Eightfold Path. Buddhist monasteries served as educational institutions across Asia for centuries.
On civil rights enforcement specifically: Every major religious tradition affirms that children with disabilities, children of every race and background, and children from disadvantaged communities have equal moral claim to education. The biblical commands to protect "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40), the Quranic emphasis on justice for the vulnerable, and the Talmudic tradition of communal responsibility for orphans and the disadvantaged all converge: a society is judged by whether its most vulnerable children can learn safely.
The "least of these" test: The federal Office for Civil Rights primarily serves children with disabilities, victims of harassment, racial minorities, and students from low-income backgrounds. When OCR loses more than half its staff, the burden falls disproportionately on exactly the children religious traditions identify as deserving the most protection. That is not a neutral fact; it is a moral one.
Constitutional & legal framework
The Department of Education was created by Congress and funded by Congress. The constitutional question is whether the executive may effectively eliminate it without congressional action.
The Department of Education Organization Act (1979): Congress created the U.S. Department of Education as a cabinet-level agency, transferring functions from HEW. The statutory framework defines specific functions: federal student aid, civil rights enforcement, statistical research, programs serving students with disabilities, programs serving low-income students (Title I), and others. Each function has statutory authority.
The 2025-2026 timeline:
- March 20, 2025: Executive order to dismantle the Department of Education and "return education to the states." Order urged Congress to abolish the department but did not have the authority to do so directly.
- 2025: Department workforce reduced by ~1,700 employees (~50% of total).
- March 2025: Mass reductions-in-force at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). More than half of OCR staff lost their jobs; 7 of 12 regional offices closed.
- December 2025: ED called back some OCR staff who had received RIF notices.
- January 2026: ED rescinded the RIF for all OCR staff members.
- July 2026: One Big Beautiful Bill Act overhauls student loan repayment effective for loans taken after this date.
The constitutional questions:
1. Congressional authority over agency existence: Article I gives Congress the power to create executive departments. The Constitution does not specify how departments can be eliminated, but the long-standing assumption has been that what Congress creates, Congress (not the executive) must eliminate. Several historical attempts to abolish departments (the Department of Energy, the Department of Commerce) have required congressional action even when the executive favored elimination.
2. The "faithfully execute the laws" clause: Article II, §3 requires the president to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Statutes establishing the Department of Education, Title I funding, IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), and civil rights enforcement obligations remain on the books. Reducing the agency to the point where it cannot fulfill statutory duties tests whether faithful execution still binds.
3. Reductions in force and statutory mandates: Federal agencies can adjust staffing through normal personnel processes. Mass reductions that prevent statutory functions from being performed raise separate questions. The OCR RIFs were ultimately rescinded — but the temporary disruption produced documented harms (a backlog of complaints, delayed investigations, and uncertainty about ongoing cases).
4. Civil rights enforcement specifically: Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and IDEA all create federal civil rights protections that require active enforcement. The federal government holds these statutory responsibilities; states cannot fulfill them independently. When OCR's capacity to investigate is reduced by half, statutory duties are arguably not being faithfully executed.
The state-control argument: Proponents of the executive order argued that education should be primarily a state and local responsibility. There is a legitimate constitutional argument here: education is not enumerated in Article I, and states have always had primary responsibility. But the federal role in education was created by Congress through specific statutes, and the federal civil rights protections were enacted by Congress under the 14th Amendment's enforcement power. Returning education "to the states" requires repealing those statutes — which is a congressional, not executive, function.
Student loans: The Department of Education administers a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio. Backlogs in Public Service Loan Forgiveness (~70,000 applications pending) and delays in income-driven repayment processing have direct consequences for borrowers. The reductions in staff have measurable effects on real people's financial lives.
The Big Beautiful Bill Act student loan changes: Effective July 2026, the legislation consolidates various income-driven repayment plans into a new "Repayment Assistance Plan." This is appropriately enacted by Congress through statute. Whether the substantive changes are good policy is contested; whether they were properly enacted is not.
See: Take Care Clause (Art. II, §3) → | Department of Education Organization Act → | Office for Civil Rights →
Sources cited:BibleTorahQuranBuddhismConstitution