Trump signs executive order calling for the dismantling of the Department of Education

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order calling for officials to shut down the U.S. Department of Education. Trump has long promised to shutter the federal office in favor of giving states more authority over their schools.

Why does Trump want to close the department? The President has criticized the department as wasteful and overly concerned with progressive ideology while failing to improve education. In a letter following her confirmation, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the department has not successfully increased student performance since it launched in 1980, despite receiving more than $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars. American students’ reading scores have remained relatively stagnant since the early 1990s, though math scores have improved, according to The Nation’s Report Card. During the COVID-19 pandemic, student performance dropped significantly and has struggled to rebound.

Can the administration completely dismantle the department? Closing a federal agency would likely require a congressional act to abolish the department and transfer its functions. Many members of Congress oppose the move, such as Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn. Courtney characterized the push to close the department as a far right-wing effort and said that federal judges would block any attempt by Trump to close it via executive order. 

But Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has already reintroduced a bill to break up the DOE. He argued that state and local officials are better equipped to meet the needs of students than federal politicians.

What happened during the signing ceremony? Several Republican governors were in attendance, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was also there, and Trump repeated his hope that McMahon would be the last person to fill that role. Trump identified three core functions of the Department of Education that he said were valuable: the federal Pell Grants program, Title I funding for low achieving students, and provision for special needs students. Trump went on to promise that all three programs would be transferred to other agencies and departments and would continue.

Trump then turned to what appeared to be about a dozen elementary-age students who were with him and asked them if he should sign the executive order. When they nodded their heads in the affirmative, he put pen to paper.

What have politicians said about the change? The plan has garnered support from Republican governors in Nebraska, Tennessee, Iowa, and other states. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday said abolishing the department would enable states to better serve students and parents by implementing curriculum that meets their unique needs. Meanwhile, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who is the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee told NBC that the move was reckless. He said dismantling the department could harm students with disabilities. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the plan could lead to teacher layoffs and financial issues for local schools.

Read our prior coverage of this issue:

• Congress on March 4 confirmed Linda McMahon as education secretary.

• The department on March 12 began shedding nearly half of its workforce.

• A group of states sued the administration over the layoffs.