President Donald Trump signed an executive Thursday that represents the first step toward officially abolishing the federal Department of Education (DOE). Flanked by students and educators in a White House signing event, President Trump moved closer towards fulfilling a promise to return decision-making and resources for education from the federal government to the states.
“Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child,” the president wrote in his executive order. “Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.”
The order directs recently confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department.
Although the president does not have the authority to single-handedly eliminate the DOE — as that would require action from Congress — President Trump’s order signals a strong push in that direction. The White House explained on Wednesday that core functions of the DoE, like administering grant programs, will continue for the time being.
On the campaign trail, the president frequently promised that if given the opportunity he would dismantle the DOE and give states full control over public education within their borders.
When discussing McMahon’s nomination, Trump said that he hoped to see her “put herself out of a job.”
“We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we’re ranked at the bottom of the list. We’re ranked very badly,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting. “What I want to do is let the states run schools. I believe strongly in school choice, but in addition to that I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job.”
While Trump has brought the conversation over ending the DOE to the forefront, it is far from a new proposal.
Founded in 1979 during former President Jimmy Carter’s (D) administration, then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan (R) campaigned on the promise of dismantling the fledgling agency.
”There’s too much Federal Government in education,” a 1983 New York Times article quoted Reagan as having said.
“In recent years, our traditions of opportunity and excellence have been under siege. We’ve witnessed the growth of a huge education bureaucracy,” Reagan said during a March 1983 radio address. “Parents have often been reduced to the role of outsiders.”
“Federal spending on education soared eight-fold in the last twenty years, rising much faster than inflation, but during that same period, scholastic aptitude test scores went down, down, and down,” he explained.
“But better education doesn’t mean a bigger Department of Education,” Reagan argued. “In fact, that department should be abolished.”
“Instead, we must do a better job teaching the basics, insisting on discipline and results, encouraging competition, and above all, remembering that education does not begin with Washington officials — or even state and local officials — it begins in the home, where it is the right and responsibility of every American,” said Reagan.
An article from the LA Times published in early 1985 characterized this as “a major goal” of former President Reagan when he took office in 1981.
Reagan eventually decided against pursuing the abolishment of the department, however, citing a lack of support from members of Congress.
“As you know, I have previously recommended the abolition of the Department of Education,” said Reagan.
“This was because I believed that federal educational programs could be administered effectively without a Cabinet-level agency,” he explained. “While I still feel that this is the best approach, that proposal has received very little support in the Congress.”
In the years since, opposition to the DOE has resurfaced multiple times, but the movement to eliminate the Department was reignited during Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to close the department entirely.
“The Department of Education is a big con job,” Trump said earlier this year, reiterating the disconnect between America’s high level of per pupil spending and the comparatively poor performance of students.
In a message to DOE staff, Secretary McMahon said that the “final mission” of the agency is to “[accomplish] the elimination of bureaucratic bloat…quickly and responsibly.”
“As I’ve learned many times throughout my career, disruption leads to innovation and gets results,” she said. “We must start thinking about our final mission at the department as an overhaul—a last chance to restore the culture of liberty and excellence that made American education great.”
“Changing the status quo can be daunting,” McMahon said. “But every staff member of this Department should be enthusiastic about any change that will benefit students.”
“Removing red tape and bureaucratic barriers will empower parents to make the best educational choices for their children,” she explained. “An effective transfer of educational oversight to the states will mean more autonomy for local communities. Teachers, too, will benefit from less micromanagement in the classroom—enabling them to get back to basics.”
Click Here to Read Secretary McMahon’s Full Message
Leading up to Thursday’s executive order, the Trump Administration had already taken several steps toward reducing the size and power of the DOE.
For example, the Department undertook efforts earlier this month to eliminate about half of the DOE’s workforce. According to a press release from the Department, impacted staff are to be placed on administrative leave this Friday and will receive full pay and benefits through June 9. Terminated employees will also receive severance pay in accordance with regular practices.
Included in this staffing reduction were the nearly 600 employees who accepted voluntary resignation and retirement offers over the past few weeks.
Along these same lines, more than $600 million in grants to institutions and nonprofits “to train teachers and education agencies on divisive ideologies” were also eliminated in mid-February.
The BBC reports that the DOE was allocated $238 billion in FY2024 — about two percent of the federal government’s total budget — and, prior to the recent round of layoffs, comprised around 4,400 employees, the fewest of any cabinet-level department.
Much of the department’s responsibilities are financial, providing funding to public schools through two primary streams: Title I, which supports schools in low-income areas, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Title I was signed into law in 1965, and IDEA was signed into law in 1975, meaning that these sources of funding cannot be eliminated or amended except by Congress.
Also within the DOE’s purview are student loans and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as FAFSA.
According to the DOE website on January 25 of this year, the department has no role in determining what can be taught in public schools.
The law establishing the department states that they have no authority to “exercise any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum, program of instruction, administration, or personnel of any educational institution, school, or school system, over any accrediting agency or association, or over the selection or content of library resources, textbooks, or other instructional materials by any educational institution or school system.”
The Department does, however, oversee the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.”
Although this assessment currently operates under the Department’s auspices, the test itself predates the DOE, having first been administered by the government in 1969.
Should Congress successfully abolish the Department, many of these core functions are expected to be reassigned to other governmental agencies as appropriate.
In order for the agency to be entirely eliminated, however, Congressional action would need to have widespread support, including from a super majority of at least 60 members of the Senate. As there are currently only 53 Republican senators, efforts to completely abolish the Department will likely face significant roadblocks.
Savannah Newhouse, a DOE spokesperson, previously told Fox News Digital that “President Trump’s goal is to cut federal bureaucracy and return education authority to the states because the dollars and decision-making should be closest to students.”
Newhouse added that “despite misconceptions, the Department of Education does not control school curricula, decide teacher pay, set who qualifies for student aid and how much they receive, operate schools, or serve as the primary source of funding for schools.”
“Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” Trump wrote in his executive order Thursday.
“The Congress created the Department of Education in 1979 at the urging of President Jimmy Carter, who received a first-ever Presidential endorsement from the country’s largest teachers’ union shortly after pledging to the union his support for a separate Department of Education,” said the president.
“Since then, the Department of Education has entrenched the education bureaucracy and sought to convince America that Federal control over education is beneficial,” he continued. “While the Department of Education does not educate anyone, it maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year.”
“Today, American reading and math scores are near historical lows. This year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math,” said Trump. “The Federal education bureaucracy is not working.”
“Closure of the Department of Education would drastically improve program implementation in higher education,” the president argued. “Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States.”
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