President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to scale down the Department of Education, a move expected to spur lawsuits challenging the directive and that will likely require Congressional approval.
Trump has frequently discussed plans to eliminate the Department of Education dating back to the campaign trail and said in September 2024 he wanted to cut down on the federal government’s influence over education to “stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars 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.”
A White House fact sheet on the executive order said the directive aims to “turn over education to families instead of bureaucracies” and instructs 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.”
Still, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier Thursday the executive order would not entirely shutter the agency but would “greatly minimize” it.
She also said the remaining agency would still oversee Pell Grants and student loans that provide financial aid for undergraduate students.
“It’s not going to be shut down,” Leavitt said. “Pell Grants and student loans will still be run out of the department in Washington, D.C., but the great responsibility of educating our nation’s students will return to the states.”
Trump said Thursday these programs and others that provide resources for children with special needs would remain but would fall under 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,” Trump said.
A Gallup Poll released in February shows Americans’ satisfaction with education has dropped significantly in the past decade. The poll found that only 24% of Americans are satisfied with the quality of education in the U.S. as of January 2025, compared to 37% in January 2017.
The White House has railed against the state of U.S. education and declining test scores by U.S. students.
Critics in the White House have pointed to the “Nation’s Report Card,” the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released every two years, published Jan. 27. The exam tests fourth and eighth grade students and found almost stagnant math scores for eighth graders compared to 2022. Reading scores dropped two points at both grade levels.
Trump said new efforts to upend the Department of Education would pave the way for states like Texas to provide education on par with countries like 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, established in 1979, seeks to improve coordination of federal education programs and support state and local school systems, according to its website. It also oversees student loans. financial aid programs and nondiscrimination policies.
The executive branch needs Congress to sign off on eradicating the agency under Article II of the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, this measure would require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and there are only 53 Republicans.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., suggested in an X post Wednesday that the Senate use the budget reconciliation process to pass the measure, which would require only 51 votes. Massie has spearheaded legislative efforts to draw down the agency and introduced a measure Jan. 31 to eliminate the Department of Education by December 2026.
There is also some support in the Senate for such legislation.
“I agree with President Trump that the Department of Education has failed its mission,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “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.”
McMahon also offered reassurances that overhauling the agency wouldn’t mean “cutting off funds for those who depend on them” and stressed the agency would partner with Congress to streamline operations.
“We’re going to follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsibly by working through Congress to ensure a lawful and orderly transition,” McMahon said in a statement Thursday.
Even without fully closing the agency, the Trump administration has moved to significantly cut down its force. On March 11, the Department of Education unveiled plans to cut its staff of just more than 4,000 people in half.
Should efforts to shutter the agency advance, National Education Association President Becky Pringle cautioned that college would become more costly for families and that students with disabilities would suffer.
“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,” Pringle said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Likewise, the American Federation of Teachers urged Congress earlier in March to oppose any executive orders to dismantle the agency. The teachers union pointed to an NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll conducted in February that found more than 60% of Americans “strongly oppose” eradicating the agency.
In response to reports Wednesday evening regarding Trump’s intention to sign the directive Thursday, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten announced the union would challenge the order.
“See you in court,” Weingarten said.
Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urged the courts to step in and block Trump’s efforts to disband the department, describing the move as “one of the most destructive and devastating steps” Trump has ever taken.
Legal actions opposing Trump’s proposed moves already are underway. A group of attorneys general from 21 states filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts March 13 after layoffs at the agency.
The lawsuit said efforts to dismantle the agency, including the layoffs, are “an unlawful violation of the separation of powers, and the Executive’s obligation to take care that the law be faithfully executed.”
Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Patrick Ward and Lawrence Edwards contributed to this report.
