The Education Department was created to ensure equal access. Who would do that in its absence?

As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the Education Department, officials have suggested other agencies could take over its major responsibilities: civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department, perhaps; student loans to Treasury or Commerce; oversight of student disability rights to Health and Human Services. Less clear is what could happen with a more lofty part of its mission — promoting equal access for students in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal. The department has cut its workforce in half, including a layoff of 1,300 people announced Tuesday.