The administration must first understand that the Department of Education administers three primary activities: college student loans and grants; K-12 funding; and ideological production, which includes an array of programs, grants, civil rights initiatives, and third-party NGOs that create left-wing content to push on local schools. It is not possible or desirable to shut down all three functions at the same time. Rather, Secretary of Education nominee Linda McMahon [above, with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and inset left], in partnership with Musk and DOGE, should handle each separately.First, the department should spin off all college student loans and grants to an independent financial entity. The federal government currently backstops $1.6 trillion in student loans and issues another $110 billion in student aid each year. This is an enormous portfolio that will require a devoted set of administrators, risk analysts, and cost-cutters. These professionals should reform the student-loan portfolio, shifting as much of it as possible back to the private market and restricting the total number of loans, which is partially responsible for administrative bloat and the student-debt crisis.
