President Donald Trump signed an executive order yesterday calling for the elimination of the Department of Education. Removing the Department of Education was one of many campaign promises made by President Trump.
Although he signed this executive, completely eliminating the Department of Education is almost impossible without Congress, which created the department in 1979. Removing the Education Department has been a long-time goal of conservatives. Republican members of Congress state that they plan to introduce legislation to make it happen, while the Democrats have quickly opposed the idea.
According to the order, the education secretary will “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the states and local communities.” It is still unclear how the executive order will be carried out.
According to President Trump, his administration will shut down the department beyond its “core necessities,” meaning it will continue to handle Pell grants, Title I funding for low-income schools, and funds for children with disabilities. During the signing ceremony on Thursday, the White House said despite what the directive seems to indicate, the department will still oversee federal student loans. The Education Department “must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students,” according to the report, as it lacks the personnel to manage its $1.6 trillion loan portfolio.
In preparation for eliminating the Department of Education, the Trump administration has been making cuts within the agency, removing half of its workforce and making several cuts within the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.
Linda McMahon, the secretary of education, promised to cut red tape and give states more authority to determine what is best for their educational institutions. In order to “ensure a lawful and orderly transition,” she pledged to cooperate with states and Congress and to continue providing necessary services. In addition, she’ll be exploring which other government agencies can take on the Education Department’s responsibilities.
“The Department of Justice already has a civil rights office, and I think that there is an opportunity to discuss with Attorney General Bondi about locating some of our civil rights work there,” McMahon told reporters after the signing.
People have had mixed feelings about the elimination of the Department of Education.
“For decades, it has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into a failing system—one that prioritizes leftist indoctrination over academic excellence, all while student achievement stagnates and America falls further behind,” said Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation.
“This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
President Trump’s authority to shut down the agency without congressional action has been questioned by some of his supporters, and its political sustainability is also in question. In 2023, 60 Republicans joined Democrats in defeating an amendment introduced in the House that would have closed the agency.
