President Donald Trump’s team is considering an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, a source familiar with the plan confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The source said that the executive order could take place in two parts: telling the secretary of education to dismantle the department as much as possible and then calling on Congress to pass a law to abolish the department altogether. They noted that things can change rapidly.
According to people speaking with the Wall Street Journal, Trump’s team is looking to end all functions of the agency that aren’t explicitly written into statute or redelegate the functions to other agencies.
Part of the effort to gut the department is coming from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The Washington Post reported that about 20 members of DOGE were working directly out of the Department of Education headquarters.
While Trump is unable to unilaterally abolish the department, he does have the power to cut down many of its key functions and redirect it to diminish itself.
One of the issues being deliberated over is timing — some involved with discussions believe it is best to wait until after Trump’s education secretary nominee, Linda McMahon, is confirmed.
Abolishing the department has been a longtime ambition of conservatives, who argue that it’s inefficient and usurps the role of parents to have a say over their children’s education.
“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said last week after introducing a bill to abolish the department. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students.”
Defenders argue that the problems with the Department of Education can be solved through more funding or reforms. Abolishing the department could be politically risky, as polls show the move is generally unpopular among the general public. A 2023 House vote to abolish the department saw 60 Republicans joining the Democrats in saying no.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Conservative arguments were given some fuel with the results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which offered an abysmal picture of student achievement.
Reading levels among all demographics failed to reach pre-pandemic levels, and reading scores among fourth graders were at a low not seen since 2000, while eighth-grade reading scores were lower than at least 1992.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
