US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing officials to begin dismantling the Department of Education, a promise he made on the 2024 campaign trail.
“We’re going to shut it down as quickly as possible,” Trump said after signing the order on Thursday. “It’s doing us no good.”
Trump has long called for the department to be axed, a cherished goal of some conservatives, but completely shuttering it would require approval by Congress – which is unlikely.
The move is already facing legal challenges from those seeking to block the agency’s closure as well as the sweeping cuts to its staff announced last week.
Trump said “the US spends more money on education by far than any other country” yet students “rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success”.
The White House stated that his administration would move to cut parts of the department that remain within legal boundaries.
But many of the Trump administration’s initiatives – which include mass firings, cutting federal agencies, and aims to slash spending – have faced legal challenges, and this executive order is expected to encounter similar obstacles.
At the ceremony, Trump praised Linda McMahon, whom he appointed to lead the department, and expressed his hope that she would be the last Secretary of Education. He said he would find “something else” for her to do within the administration.
After Trump signed the order, Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy announced plans to bring legislation aimed at closing the department.
But Congress is unlikely to act on eliminating the department as Republicans hold a slim 53-47 majority in the Senate. Closing a department would require 60 votes, making such legislation highly improbable.
But even if the department is not formally closed, the Trump administration could decimate its funding and staff as it has done with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which subsequently stopped many of its programmes and humanitarian work.
The text of the executive order does not include specifics on what actions the administration will take and what programmes might be axed.
It orders McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of the department and give authority of such matters to state and local governments while “ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely”.
Established in 1979, the education department oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes that help low-income students.
Trump has accused it of indoctrinating young people with racial, sexual, and political material.
A common misconception is that the department operates US schools and sets curricula – but that is done by states and local districts.
And a relatively small percentage of funding for primary and secondary schools – about 13% – comes from federal funds. The majority is made up from states and local groups.
The agency also plays a prominent role in administering and overseeing the federal student loans used by millions of Americans to pay for higher education.
Soon after she was sworn in, McMahon sent the department’s 4,400 employees a memo titled “Our Department’s Final Mission”.
“This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students,” she wrote.
“I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete; we will be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.”
Earlier reports suggested Trump would look to end some of the department’s programmes and send others to different departments, such as the Treasury.
Trump and fellow Republicans have accused the department of promoting a “woke” political ideology, and say the department is pushing liberal views about gender and race.
America’s largest teachers’ union recently decried Trump’s plans, saying he “doesn’t care about opportunity for all kids”.
In its statement, the AFT said: “No-one likes bureaucracy, and everyone’s in favour of more efficiency, so let’s find ways to accomplish that.
“But don’t use a ‘war on woke’ to attack the children living in poverty and the children with disabilities, in order to pay for vouchers and tax cuts for billionaires.”
Most US children attend public schools, which are free and governed by local officials. Nearly all of their funding comes from state and local taxes and curriculum decisions are made by state governments and school districts.
The current cabinet-level department was established by Congress at the end of 1979.
Two years later, former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, started the call to undo it to save money and to favour “local needs and preferences”.
With 4,400 employees, it is the smallest agency in the president’s cabinet and takes up less than 2% of the total federal budget.
Some of those staff have already been affected by the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce cuts, led by the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), with many urged to retire, laid off, or placed on paid administrative leave.
The layoffs at the agency will affect nearly 2,100 people, who are set to be placed on leave from 21 March.
Efforts by Doge to slash federal spending and radically restructure – or simply abolish – many government agencies have been overseen by tech billionaire Elon Musk.
