Member
Trump Signs Executive Order to Begin Dismantling of Department of Education
Charlie Kirk Staff
2 days ago
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday aimed at reducing the size and influence of the Department of Education, a move that is expected to face legal challenges and require congressional approval.
Trump has long advocated for limiting the federal government’s role in education. During his 2024 campaign, he pledged to cut back the department’s reach, saying in September that he wanted to stop using taxpayer money to “indoctrinate America’s youth.”
“Everybody knows it’s right, and we have to get our children educated,” Trump said Thursday. “We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we haven’t for a long time.”
According to a White House fact sheet, the executive order 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, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.” The administration argues that the move will “turn over education to families instead of bureaucracies.”
However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that the department would not be fully dismantled. “It’s not going to be shut down,” Leavitt said, adding that Pell Grants and student loan programs will still be managed from Washington, D.C.
Trump also assured that funding for children with special needs and other critical programs would remain intact but would be transferred to other agencies. “They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them,” he said.
The decision comes amid growing concerns over the state of education in the U.S. A Gallup poll released in February found that only 24% of Americans were satisfied with the quality of education in January 2025, compared to 37% in 2017.
Critics of the current education system have pointed to declining test scores as evidence of the need for reform. The latest “Nation’s Report Card,” the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), showed that eighth-grade math scores remained nearly stagnant since 2022, while reading scores dropped by two points for both fourth and eighth graders.
Trump argued that shifting education control to the states would allow for better outcomes. He suggested that states like Texas could reach the educational standards of countries such as Norway, Denmark, and Sweden.
“And then you’ll have some laggards, and we’ll work with them,” Trump said. “And we can all tell you who the laggards will be, right now, probably, but let’s not get into that.”
The Department of Education was established in 1979 to improve coordination of federal education programs and support state and local school systems. It also oversees student loans, financial aid programs, and nondiscrimination policies.
Dismantling the department would require congressional approval under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. While Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate, eliminating the agency would require 60 votes.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., has suggested using the budget reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes, to pass the measure. Massie has led efforts to reduce the agency’s role and introduced a bill on Jan. 31 to eliminate the Department of Education by December 2026.
There is also some support in the Senate for the legislation, but the fate of the executive order remains uncertain as legal and political battles loom.
