President Donald Trump was expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education, CNN reported. The move could lead to cuts in educational services for low-income districts and disabled students across the country, as well as issues for Americans trying to obtain student loans.
“The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars—and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support—has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” reads a draft of the order obtained by the Wall Street Journal.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted later on Thursday that “Trump is NOT signing an Executive Order on the Department of Education today,” and ABC News reported that the White House had canceled the expected signing. The White House had earlier announced a 2 PM signing of executive orders in its Daily Guidance email. An unnamed White House official said the White House had decided to continue its review of the proposed order before signing, according to NewsNation. The White House has not said whether the entire event is canceled.
Of course, Trump cannot eliminate a Cabinet department by executive decree. The Department of Education was created in 1979 by an act of Congress—much to the chagrin of Republicans—and would thus require another act of Congress to shut it down. Education Secretary Linda McMahon admitted as much in her confirmation hearing for the role that she is not qualified to hold.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon
It's why the executive order Trump had reportedly planned to sign merely says that McMahon should “take all necessary steps” to close the department “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law," the Washington Post reported.
Because McMahon cannot merely shutter the department and its functions, the Washington Post reported that McMahon will instead make cuts to "staff, programs, and grants." That will almost certainly cause issues in the department carrying out its congressionally mandated role of distributing funding to low-income schools, students with disabilities, and administering student loans and grants.
“My vision is aligned with the president’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children,” McMahon wrote in an email to staff of the DOE after she was sworn in to her role of leading the Cabinet agency. “This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, said that her organization will sue the Trump administration for trying to end the DOE.
“The department is legally required to distribute funds that help 26 million kids living in poverty (Title I), 7.5 million students with disabilities (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), 10 million students who need financial aid to attend college or pursue a trade (Pell grants) and 12 million students who benefit from career and technical education (Perkins grants). Any attempt by the Trump administration or Congress to gut these programs would be a grave mistake, and we will fight them tooth and nail," she said in a statement.
Related | What happens if Republicans really do kill the Education Department?
National Education Association President Becky Pringle said eliminating the DOE would have devastating impacts on low-income districts, many of which are in red and rural states that Trump won in 2024. Those Title I districts rely on federal funding to keep teachers employed.
“If it became a reality, Trump’s power grab would steal resources for our most vulnerable students, explode class sizes, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections,” Pringle said in a news release.
Indeed, a report from the Center for American Progress found that eliminating the DOE, "would lead to the loss of 180,300 teaching positions, which serve more than 2.8 million students, in the United States."
"If you look at the states that rely the most on Title I funding as a share of their per-pupil education spending, it's actually a bunch of red, rural states that get the largest share," Jon Valant, director of the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, told NPR. "You run into opposition not just from Democrats … But actually a lot of congressional Republicans have real concerns about it because they see the threat that it poses to their own constituents."
Ultimately, eliminating the DOE could be politically damaging for Trump.
A Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos from Feb. 28 to March 3 found 51% of voters oppose eliminating the Cabinet department—46% of whom strongly oppose shuttering it. That's far higher than the 39% who strongly support getting rid of the DOE.
Once Americans experience the actual impact of getting rid of the DOE, those poll numbers could grow even worse for Trump and Republicans.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a response from the White House press secretary, who said Trump will not be signing the expected executive order “today,” and additional reporting that the White House had decided to continue its review of the draft before proceeding.
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