Past President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order at 4 p.m. ET today that orders the shutdown of the Department of Education and the return of education power to individual states. The order instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take appropriate measures to disestablish the department and to ensure continuity of essential education programs and services.
But dissolving the department would take an act of Congress, as it was created under federal law. It is not clear that Republican lawmakers could muster support for such a bill.
White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields made a defense of the move, saying it would “empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students.” He mentioned falling test scores as a national crisis that demands action.
A draft of the order indicates it will focus on federal regulations and administrative red tape, contending that following ideological directives takes attention away from schools’ core mission of education. In addition to these reductions, funding for students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Title I grants to low-income schools, and federal student loan programs will not be touched.
Also, education programs that will be receiving leftover federal funds will be barred from promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, or gender ideology, the White House stated.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attested to the fact that the department will still be providing student loans, Pell Grants, and implementing some civil rights laws but will be dramatically scaled back. She also decried too much spending, commenting, “We don’t need to be spending more than $3 trillion over a few decades on a department that’s failing in its original mission.”
Although Trump and conservative supporters have long been in favor of repealing the Department of Education, it is not certain if he will press Congress to officially repeal it or if enough votes exist for it to pass.
