President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday afternoon aiming to close the Department of Education. The order was drafted in February and 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,” according to a White House fact sheet shared with the Associated Press.
The order will not formally close the department, and doing so requires congressional approval, including a 60-vote majority in the U.S. Senate. However, both Trump and McMahon have expressed their intent to work with Congress to pass the legislation.
Closing the Education Department has been a longstanding promise of the Trump administration, with several executive orders aimed at limiting and monitoring the department’s funding including Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government and most recently, the department’s intent to cut nearly half of its funding and workforce with layoffs set to begin March 21.
Twenty-one attorneys general filed a lawsuit against McMahon, the Department of Education and Trump earlier this month arguing that the departments’ elimination is unlawful.
“It is a bedrock constitutional principle that the President and his agencies cannot make law,” the lawsuit reads. “Rather, they can only—and indeed, they must—implement the laws enacted by Congress, including those statutes that create federal agencies and dictate their duties. The Executive thus can neither outright abolish an agency nor incapacitate it by cutting away the personnel required to implement the agency’s statutorily-mandated duties.”
A White House spokesperson said the order will “expand educational opportunities” and “empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students,” as reported by BBC. The president has accused the Education Department of indoctrinating children with “woke” rhetoric, however, classroom curriculum is controlled by states and districts, not the department.
The Education Department’s main functions are managing federal funds for colleges and public schools, including student loans and research grants, as well as enforcing students’ civil rights protections.
