President Donald Trump is anticipated to sign an executive order on Thursday to dismantle the Department of Education, fulfilling a key promise made during his campaign. A summary of the order shows that it directs 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.” But the order also directs the “uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” according to the summary.
McMahon was confirmed as Education Secretary earlier this month, although Trump had previously expressed his hope that she would eventually “put herself out of a job.” A host of Republican governors, education parental rights advocates, and other supporters are expected to attend the signing on Thursday. Trump’s promise to close the department was met with enthusiasm and cheers while on the campaign trail last year.
“I say it all the time, I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education,” Trump said at a September rally in Wisconsin. “We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing.”
Frustration with public schools has reached a boiling point in recent years. During the pandemic, parents pleaded for classrooms to reopen and for children to be freed from face mask mandates. In the post-COVID era, discontent grew over significant learning losses, allegations that schools were concealing changes in children’s gender identities, and the promotion of contentious ideologies like Critical Race Theory by teachers.
The department has already reduced its workforce by about half and recently canceled over $600 million in grants that funded teacher training in what it deems “divisive ideologies,” including social justice activism, anti-racism, and race-based recruitment. The order “will empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students,” Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said in a statement, adding that recent test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress exam “reveal a national crisis our children are falling behind.”
President Jimmy Carter established the Education Department in 1979 when he signed legislation creating the Cabinet-level agency. While completely eliminating the department would require a new act of Congress, Trump’s order is expected to dismantle it in the meantime. Critics, including teachers’ unions that have consistently expressed support for the department, are likely to challenge the order in court.
