Throughout much of the 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump made a point to tell people he was going to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education.
On Thursday, Trump took a big step toward keeping that promise, signing an executive order designed to abolish the department.
Trump directed his education secretary, Linda McMahon, to take “all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States,” according to a White House summary of the order, which has been in the works for weeks.
Shortly after McMahon was confirmed, the department slashed its workforce in half and made deep cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gathers data on the nation’s academic progress.
It isn’t clear what the immediate impact of the order will be. The president doesn’t have the authority to abolish a federal agency; that power lies with Congress. Also, the federal government does not set school curriculum. That’s long been the purview of states and local school districts.
“The Democrats know it’s right, and I hope they’re going to be voting for it because ultimately it may come before them,” Trump said at the signing.
Advocates for public schools said eliminating the department would leave children behind in an American education system that is fundamentally unequal.
In a statement, the National Parents Union said Trump’s move “isn’t fixing education.”
“It’s making sure millions of children never get a fair shot,” the statement read. “And we’re not about to let that happen without a fight.”
The White House has not said which department functions could be handed off to other departments, or eliminated altogether. At her confirmation hearing, McMahon said she would preserve core initiatives, including Title I money for low-income schools and Pell grants for low-income college students. The goal of the administration, she said in the hearing, would be “a better functioning Department of Education.”
The department sends billions of dollars a year to schools and oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student loans.
Federal funding makes up a relatively small portion of public school budgets — roughly 14%, according to a report from The Associated Press. The money often supports supplemental programs for vulnerable students, such as the McKinney-Vento program for homeless students or Title I for low-income schools.
Colleges and universities are more reliant on money from Washington, through research grants along with federal financial aid that helps students pay their tuition.
Republicans have talked about closing the Education Department for decades, saying it wastes taxpayer money and inserts the federal government into decisions that should fall to states and schools. The idea has gained popularity recently as conservative parents’ groups demand more authority over their children’s schooling.
Finalizing the closing of the department is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Even some of Trump’s allies have questioned whether he has the power to close the agency without action from Congress, and there are doubts about its political popularity.
The House considered an amendment to close the agency in 2023, but 60 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it, according to the AP report.
