Trump Ousted Education Experts, Myself Included, From White House Board

A federal judge has challenged the Trump Administration’s plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education. Lawsuits are challenging the Administration’s cuts to the staff and budget of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Department of Education’s research division. Significant reductions in funding for education research grants are also being legally contested.

Given this context, it was expected that the Trump Administration would eventually dismiss the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES). This occurred four months into President Donald Trump’s second term when he removed 13 Biden appointees from the board on May 23.

The email stated, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Board for Education Sciences is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”

As one of the recipients of this concise message, I question whether the sender or anyone in the Trump Administration understands who we are or what our roles involved.

President Joe Biden appointed 13 of us to this bipartisan White House Board in October 2022, based on our extensive expertise in education research, evaluation, and development. The members included former presidents of the American Educational Research Association, inductees of the National Academy of Education (including its current president who led NBES), a dean from two academic departments at a Historically Black University, and a mayor with two decades of experience as a teacher and school administrator who also served five terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.

We committed four years of unpaid service because of our dedication to American democracy, our appreciation for research, and our understanding of how rigorous studies and evidence-based tools can improve educational opportunities, experiences, and outcomes for all students. Our work was based on expertise, not political activism or anti-American agendas.

The voting NBES members collaborated with nine ex-officio members: the Director of IES, the Director of the National Science Foundation, the Director of the Census, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the commissioners of the four National Education Centers. This group was united by a strong commitment to rigorous and relevant research.

During George W. Bush’s presidency, Congress established NBES as part of the Educational Sciences Reform Act of 2002. Our responsibilities included advising the IES Director on policies and procedures, setting priorities for the Institute’s approximately $700 million annual budget, gathering input from educators and researchers, and improving peer review for grant-funded research projects, among other tasks related to scientific inquiry and innovation.

The Educational Sciences Reform Act of 2002 also tasks NBES with advising “the Director on opportunities for the participation in, and the advancement of, women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in education research, statistics, and evaluation activities of the Institute.”

Without understanding our work, the Trump Administration might have assumed that we were focused on DEI activities that favored wokeness over merit and discriminated against white men applying for IES research grants. I never saw or participated in such activities, and there is no evidence of such wrongdoing.

Being appointed to a White House board by a U.S. president was a great honor, and I will always appreciate the Biden-Harris Administration’s trust in me. However, my termination by the Trump Administration is not something I view as a badge of honor; it is shameful.

As I anticipated, the Trump Administration terminated my position before my term ended. I also expect that eliminating the federal education department, defunding IES, and dismissing its NBES partners will weaken the quality and production of education research and evaluation activities.

This will likely lead to students with disabilities being even more underserved and widening inequities between rich and poor, as well as white and racially diverse learners. Solutions to address antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and sexism in schools will be hindered. New educational disparities may also emerge without systematic tracking, communication, study, or resolution. Congress and educational leaders will have reduced access to reliable research on effective strategies, obstacles to excellence and innovation, and areas where the U.S. is failing to meet its educational obligations to students and families.

The termination of NBES members is another example of the Trump Administration’s assault on research, researchers, and research universities. Withdrawing hundreds of millions in federal research grants from Harvard and Stanford, leading institutions in science and innovation, is an attack on research itself. These actions are short-sighted and will likely cause our nation to fall further behind in addressing educational inequities, climate change, disease and health disparities, poverty, and other complex issues.

I accepted Biden’s invitation to serve on NBES because I am committed to improving our country and the education of its students. I also value research. While I am disappointed by our unfair dismissal, I am more concerned for the IES leaders and staff who lost their full-time jobs – its national statistics unit has decreased significantly, from approximately 100 employees before Trump’s second term.

These dedicated professionals are more negatively impacted by the Administration’s actions than NBES members like myself. We will recover.