United States President Donald Trump has made good on a campaign promise to begin shuttering the Department of Education, though his efforts are likely to face court challenges and constitutional barriers.
On Thursday, the Republican leader held an elaborate ceremony to sign an executive order that would set in motion the department’s demise.
A semi-circle of children were arranged in desks around the president, each with their own version of the executive order to sign. When Trump uncapped his marker to sign the order, the children followed suit. When he lifted up the completed order for the cameras, so too did the kids.
“I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the Federal Department of Education once and for all,” Trump said in remarks before the signing ceremony.
“And it sounds strange, doesn’t it? Department of Education, we’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right, and the Democrats know it’s right.”
But Democrats and education advocates quickly denounced the action as not only another example of presidential overreach but as an effort that would harm students across the country.
“Attempting to dismantle the Department of Education is one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken. This. Will. Hurt. Kids,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on social media within minutes of the ceremony.
The order called for Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, a longtime Trump ally, to “take all necessary steps” to facilitate the department’s closure, which must be approved by Congress.
The Department of Education was founded in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, as part of an effort to consolidate various education initiatives within the federal government. In doing so, he created a new cabinet-level position, something Republicans even then argued would leach power away from states and local school boards.
The department, however, has a limited mandate. It does not set curriculums or school programming but rather focuses on collecting data on education, disseminating research, distributing federal aid and enforcing anti-discrimination measures.
Trump bemoans test scores
Still, Trump has repeatedly held the department responsible for low educational achievement in US schools, an assertion experts say is misleading.
“ We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country. And we haven’t for a long time,” Trump said at Thursday’s ceremony.
The US does indeed trail other countries in global standardised test scores – but it is by no means last, as Trump has sometimes asserted.
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international metric for education standards, has found that American students rank as average in their test scores: above countries like Mexico and Brazil but below places like Singapore, Japan and Canada.
Test scores had declined in mathematics from 2018 to 2022, something PISA attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. But achievements in reading and science remained stable.
Trump, meanwhile, also tied the Department of Education to his broader campaign to cut alleged waste and fraud in the federal government, including through widespread layoffs.
He explained from the podium on Thursday that he had offered buyout offers to Education Department employees.
“ We’ve cut the number of bureaucrats in half. Fifty percent have taken offers,” Trump said to applause.
He added that the employees consisted of “ a small handful of Democrats and others that we have employed for a long time – and there are some Republicans, but not too many, I have to be honest with you.”
Trump has previously pledged to expel all “Biden bureaucrats” and install loyalists instead.
Critics, however, say he has targeted nonpartisan civil service members with his layoffs, many of whom help maintain government stability from administration to administration.
One Trump ally who risks losing their position under the department shake-up is McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.
Trump, however, reassured her from the podium on Thursday that she would remain in his government: “We’re going to find something else for you, Linda.”
