Trump Orders Officials to Dismantle Education Department 

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday commanding the Department of Education to be effectively dismantled and eventually shuttered, escalating his administration’s unprecedented assault on the federal government.

Trump’s order does not officially liquidate the department. Instead, it calls for the department to be closed to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.” For the department to be officially closed would require an act of Congress, which is the only branch that can create federal offices.

Trump has used similar language in other orders directing the demolition of federal agencies. Trump in effect is attempting to get around Congress’s constitutional authority by hollowing out federal agencies, leaving them to exist in name only. Specifically for the Education Department, Trump has suggested it could be reduced to one employee. 

The order directs Secretary Linda McMahon to “return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

Before signing the order, Trump said the department’s core functions, like distributing Pell Grants and managing student loans, would be “distributed to various other agencies and departments.”

“Beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department,” Trump said. “We’re going to shut it down, and we’re going to shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing no good. We want to return our students to the states.” 

Moments after Trump signed the order, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said on social media he would introduce legislation to officially eliminate the department.

“Since the Department can only be shut down with Congressional approval, I will support the President’s goals by submitting legislation to accomplish this as soon as possible,” the senator said.

National education organizations have repeatedly warned that eliminating the federal government’s role in education will strip schools of critical funding and harm the over 50 million students who attend public schools, especially the 15% of them who have disabilities.

“If successful, Trump’s continued actions will hurt all students by sending class sizes soaring, cutting job training programs, making higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, taking away special education services for students with disabilities, and gutting student civil rights protections,” Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, said in a statement. 

“See you in court,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten also said.

The move is almost certain to elicit numerous lawsuits. Democracy Forward* said in a statement that it will help education advocates, families and community leaders challenge the executive order.

“We will be filing litigation against this action and will use every legal tool to ensure that the rights of students, teachers, and families are fully protected,” Democracy Forward President and CEO Skye Perryman said.

The Trump administration’s recent actions against the department, such as slashing its workforce in half, have been met with legal challenges.

21 Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration last week, arguing that cuts to the Education Department will prevent it from carrying out its legally-required functions, which would threaten Congress’s lawmaking authority.

Lawmakers, too, have warned that eliminating the department will degrade education in the U.S.

“You’re going to see this money go to private schools and more students fleeing to the private sector, making public schools and the demands on public schools even harder,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) told Democracy Docket. “That is the real world impact of cuts to the Department of Education and it’s incredibly serious.”