US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday that aims to dismantle the Department of Education, the White House says.
The move, which he promised to do on the campaign trail, is already facing legal challenges from those seeking to block the department’s closure as well as the sweeping cuts to its staff announced last week.
Trump has long called for the department to be axed, a cherished goal of some conservatives, but completely eliminating it would require approval by Congress.
And that is seen as unlikely given the slim 53-47 majority Republicans hold in the Senate. Major legislation such as closing a department would require 60 votes.
But even if the department is not formally closed down, the Trump administration could decimate its funding and staff as it has done with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which subsequently stopped the vast majority of its programmes and humanitarian work.
The president’s education department order is expected to be signed during a ceremony at the White House later on Thursday. Republican state governors, including Florida’s Ron DeSantis, are reportedly set to attend the signing.
The order would “expand educational opportunities” and “empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students”, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday.
Established in 1979, the education department oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes that help low-income students.
Trump has accused it of indoctrinating young people with racial, sexual, and political material.
A common misconception is that the department operates US schools and sets curricula – but that is done by states and local districts.
And a relatively small percentage of funding for primary and secondary schools – about 13% – comes from federal funds. The majority is made up from states and local groups.
The agency also plays a prominent role in administering and overseeing the federal student loans used by millions of Americans to pay for higher education.
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Soon after she was sworn in, Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent the department’s 4,400 employees a memo titled “Our Department’s Final Mission”.
“This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students,” she wrote.
“I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete; we will be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.”
Earlier reports suggested Trump would look to end some of the department’s programmes and send others to different departments, such as the Treasury.
Trump and fellow Republicans have accused the department of promoting a “woke” political ideology, and say the department is pushing liberal views about gender and race.
America’s largest teachers’ union recently decried Trump’s plans, saying he “doesn’t care about opportunity for all kids”.
In its statement, the AFT said: “No-one likes bureaucracy, and everyone’s in favour of more efficiency, so let’s find ways to accomplish that.
“But don’t use a ‘war on woke’ to attack the children living in poverty and the children with disabilities, in order to pay for vouchers and tax cuts for billionaires.”
The order to begin shuttering the department is likely to face further legal challenges once it is signed.
Most US children attend public schools, which are free and governed by local officials. Nearly all of their funding comes from state and local taxes and curriculum decisions are made by state governments and school districts.
The current cabinet-level department was established by Congress at the end of 1979.
Two years later, former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, started the call to undo it to save money and to favour “local needs and preferences”.
With 4,400 employees, it is the smallest agency in the president’s cabinet and takes up less than 2% of the total federal budget.
Some of those staff have already been caught up the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce cuts, led by a White House unit known as the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). They were either urged to retire, laid off or placed on paid administrative leave.
Elon Musk has overseen efforts by Doge to slash federal spending and radically restructure – or simply abolish – many government agencies.
Last week, the Trump administration announced plans to cut about half of the education department’s workforce.
The layoffs will affect nearly 2,100 people, who are set to be placed on leave from 21 March.