“Should the Department of Education exist?” asked David Deming, professor of Political Economy at the Harvard Kennedy School and Faculty Dean of Kirkland House at the Institute of Politics JFK Jr. Forum on April 22. Former U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona chuckled in response. “The Department of Education definitely needs to exist,” Cardona said.
Titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” President Trump’s executive order said the Department of Education, as it stands, is not working. “Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars—and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support—has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the order stated. This announcement came shortly after the administration fired over 1,300 employees on March 11 in an effort to begin reducing the size of the department.
Approximately one month later, in the wake of these shifts to the American education system, Cardona discussed the successes of the past presidential administration and the resiliency of the U.S. education system in his visit to the Forum.
Cardona began his career as a fourth-grade teacher in Meriden, Conn., where his parents settled decades earlier after emigrating from Puerto Rico. In 2003, he took on the position of school principal. He was appointed superintendent of the Meriden Public School system in 2013. Then he assumed the role of Connecticut Commissioner of Education in 2019, before being sworn in as U.S. Secretary of Education under former President Joe Biden on March 2, 2021.
Cardona had long known he wanted to teach, but never planned to end up in federal office. He explained to the audience that the public education system—on which 83% of the country’s K-12 attending students rely—is what brought him to the highest-ranking position in federal education policy.
Cardona’s conversation came amid heightened attention to the U.S. education system. On March 20, President Trump passed an executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education. “Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child,” the order said. “Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.”
Initially created in 1867 by President Andrew Johnson as the Office of Education and formally established as a cabinet-level department by Congress in 1979, the Department of Education has worked to narrow funding gaps, enforce civil rights in the classroom, and administer federal financial aid.
However, the current presidential administration does not see the purpose of the department. When asked about the Trump administration’s plan to reallocate funds and responsibilities away from the Department of Education, Cardona said, “Education is not a hobby. Teaching is not a hobby.” He expressed his disdain for the administration’s tactic of rerouting educational issues to other departments. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services—which also experienced budget cuts in the form of a “restructuring plan,” is now set to oversee special education students.
“I would argue that, in order to make sure we maximize the benefits of what Congress intended, we need a department that is overseeing it and ensuring that it’s going to go where Congress intended it to go,” Cardona said.
Cardona noted a potential economic incentive behind recent executive orders and employee firings: the increased privatization of education. “It protects public education, something that is a public good, that I believe is in danger of becoming monetized and privatized,” he said.
The Department of Education’s fiscal year budget summary for 2024 notes a request of $90 billion in discretionary funding—a 13.6% increase from the previous year. Title I grants to Local Educational Agencies requested $20.5 billion, an increase of $2.2 billion from 2023, and states requested total IDEA grants of $16.3 billion, an increase of $2.1 billion from 2023. Yet, considering the current diminishing of accountability measures to disseminate these funds, it is questionable that the expansion of federal investment in education is enough to make up for oversight concerns.
Beyond these efforts, by eroding the oversight mechanisms for the agencies and firing the human capital that controls the $82.4-billion budget of the Department of Education, the Trump administration has put the most vulnerable students at risk. Students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title I schools with low-income families that receive additional federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and already-threatened rural communities are increasingly unprotected.
“It’s what allows the distribution and the civil rights protection of IDEA dollars for students with disabilities,” Cardona said. “It ensures that the 26 million students across our country who are economically disadvantaged have Title I dollar access. It ensures our rural communities get the support that they need.” With no one allocating or managing this funding, families may find themselves disappointed with their public school systems and drawn to private schools.
Deming then transitioned the conversation away from current headlines to Secretary Cardona’s legacy within the Biden administration. President Biden’s education agenda focused not only on COVID-19 recovery but also on creating best practices and increasing standards. “To me, it’s really about creating high expectations, having high standards, and having a curriculum that meets students where they are but also brings them to a higher standard,” Cardona said.
He argued that the utilization of a national standard is likely not attainable for the U.S. at this time, in part because of an education system that is historically built on states’ rights. However, he is confident that this decentralized system will prove effective, as long as we promote high standards. “I think we can come together around saying we need high standards for students, and these are the best ways of doing it,” he continued.
According to Cardona, the Department of Education also had a significant influence on the quality and quantity of American teachers, a particularly relevant topic amid the nation’s educator shortage. “It’s the A-B-Cs of teaching—because we need more acronyms and letters in teaching,” he joked.
“‘A’ stands for agency. Let’s respect our teachers, let’s listen to their voices,” he began the acronym. Once a fourth-grade teacher himself, Cardona spoke of the collective obligation to bring teachers’ voices to the table when considering mechanisms of systemic reform. Reports from the Center for Education Policy note that 94% of teachers express that they do not feel heard in policy-making, even though the responsibility to implement policies falls on them.
“‘B’ was better working conditions. Teachers don’t go into public service to become millionaires, but they need to be respected,” Cardona said. In his eyes, to address the teaching shortage, the nation needs to instate support systems for the socio-emotional student needs that often extend outside of a teacher’s expertise—social workers and school psychologists are two examples. Research has shown that the presence of school psychologists can improve teacher resilience.
“Better working conditions means that we have opportunities for teachers to grow in their career, to get professional development, to continue to evolve as a teacher, to have pipeline opportunities to be a teacher-leader,” he said.
And ‘C’ was a competitive salary. “Teachers, on average, make 24% less than people in other professions,” Cardona said. “To me, you can’t just brush by salary, because you’re not gonna get people that can afford to buy a home and contribute to the economy.” During the 2023-2024 school year, the average teacher salary was $71,699. This is the first time the American teacher salary average has crossed $70,000, but adjustments for inflation indicate that teachers are in a worse position than they were 10 years ago.
“Because of where we are right now, I’m going to add a ‘D’ in there, for diversity,” said Cardona. “It does matter to have diverse teaching staff.”
In the wake of the current Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s recent announcement, the conversation shifted to loan forgiveness and repayments. The announcement stated that the Trump administration will begin collecting loan repayments for student loan borrowers in default beginning May 5. While some people are in favor of this policy shift, others, like Cardona, are against such fiscal policies. “No one wins when people go into default—no one wins,” he said.
Cardona further explained how the Biden administration would have gone about assisting borrowers with getting back into loan repayment differently, if given the chance.
“What would the plan have been if we had another four years? To roll out a plan that makes sure people are successful in paying back loans, go after the root cause, which is inflating interests.” Cardona emphasized the need for educational gain. “Make sure the return on investment is there for higher education, meaning you’re not going to pay $200,000 for a degree where you’re going to make $35,000 a year.”
Professor Deming’s final prompt was of reflective hope. “Tell us something about the impact of the Biden administration on education that matters, that gives you some hope going forward,” he said.
“This is the best time to get into education; this is the best time to get into leadership,” Cardona said. “Our kids need you now more than ever.”
Gauri Sood ’26 (gaurisood@college.harvard.edu) got a selfie with Secretary Cardona.