President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to sign an executive order aimed at eliminating the Department of Education, according to two sources familiar with the plans, as reported by NBC News. This move would fulfill a long-standing conservative goal of shifting education oversight back to the states. While reports on Monday suggested that the President would take steps to dismantle the agency from within, the actual effort to abolish it was not anticipated until Tuesday.
Although Trump cannot unilaterally eliminate a federal agency without congressional approval, the executive order is expected to significantly reduce the Department of Education’s role. Republicans view this as an important first step in dismantling what they describe as a bloated federal bureaucracy. The move follows years of campaign promises from Trump to shut down the Education Department.
“One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states,” Trump declared in a 2023 campaign video. Conservatives have rightfully pointed out that standards and influences imposed by federal bureaucrats have only worsened public education, while at the same time raising costs.
“In total, American society pours more than $1 trillion a year into public education systems, but instead of being at the top of the list, we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom,” Trump said at the time. The executive order reported follows last week’s decision by Trump to expand school choice. He directed the Education Department to issue new guidance on how federal funds can be used to support private and charter schools. This order grants states greater flexibility in allocating education funding, which is a significant victory for Republican governors.
School choice has been a central priority for the GOP, with Republican-led states increasing funding to help low-income families leave underperforming public schools. Now, Trump seems set to take the fight a step further by eliminating the federal agency entirely. In recent years, Republicans have gained momentum in their push to abolish the Department of Education. During the 2024 GOP primary, candidates like Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley made this a prominent campaign promise, vowing to either “clean out” or dismantle the agency.
In a July 2024 campaign email, Trump outlined additional education priorities, including cutting federal funds to schools promoting “critical race theory” and initiating civil rights investigations into anti-Asian discrimination. He also pledged to create a new credentialing system for teachers who “embrace patriotic values” and to “find and remove radicals who have infiltrated the federal Department of Education.”
