Opponents are already filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the president’s actions.
During an Oval Office meeting earlier this year, President Donald Trump’s plans for the Department of Education appeared ambiguous.
He didn’t rule out executive action at that time but said he’d prefer to work with Congress and teacher unions to dismantle the agency and move education appropriations to other federal agencies and the states.
Since then, he has taken a two-pronged approach to eliminate the agency: first by cutting the agency in half through layoffs, canceling contracts, and discontinuing facility leases, then second by issuing an executive order that directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to facilitate the agency’s closure and return education authority to the states.
Education policy experts say the approach is uncharted territory.
On March 20, Trump issued an executive order calling for the end of “a bloated federal system that burdens schools with regulations and paperwork.”
The agency will remain responsible for Title I funding for low-income student populations, special education programs, and Pell grants for college students, but all other roles will be transferred to states.
Trump said that when President Jimmy Carter created the agency in 1979, there was strong opposition from Cabinet members, the American Federation of Teachers, and some Democrats in Congress.
“History has proven them right, absolutely right,” Trump said, adding that the United States leads the world in public education spending but lags in K–12 academic performance.
“That’s where we’re at, like it or not, and we’ve been there a long time,” the president said.
Ahead of the announcement, congressional Democrats maintained their opposition to any department cuts, let alone its elimination, while Republicans supported Trump’s intentions.
No Democrat or independent senator voted to confirm McMahon. She pledged to put herself out of a job and, within days of taking the oath of office, laid off half her staff.
Teacher unions, meanwhile, have continually denounced Trump’s actions, held rallies opposing any changes to the federal agency, and are aligned with the American Civil Liberties Union to flood the executive branch with complaints and lawsuits.
Other than the importance of career and technical education, the only idea that McMahon and Senate Democrats agreed on during her confirmation hearing was that Congress alone, which established the federal agency 46 years ago, has the authority to eliminate it.
“Because that’s the law,” McMahon said during the hearing.
