“Unaccountable” bureaucrats managing educational programs have “failed our children,” a draft executive order reportedly reads
US President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order aimed at dismantling the Department of Education, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The move, which is part of the Trump administration’s effort to overhaul US government agencies in a bid to eliminate wasteful state spending, has been expected since early February, when the White House revealed its intentions.
A draft of the order, reviewed by the outlet, instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” to the fullest extent allowed by law. The order could reportedly be issued on Thursday.
“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,” the WSJ cited the draft order as reading.
The department enforces educational laws related to privacy and civil rights, ensures equal access to education, and administers federal grants, including programs that assist children from low-income families.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a conservative plan for the Trump administration, proposed reallocating the department’s Office for Civil Rights to the Justice Department, and transferring its student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department. It also recommended phasing out funding for schools based on the number of low-income students they serve.
Trump has long advocated for abolishing the department, dismissing it as a “big con job.” He previously proposed its elimination during his first term, but Congress did not take action.
The order justifies the department’s closure by stating that “since its founding in 1979, the Department of Education has spent more than $1 trillion without producing virtually any improvement in student reading and mathematics scores.”
Education Secretary McMahon said in an email to staff that she intends to “send education back to the states,” according to the outlet. She said that Trump and US voters had “tasked us with accomplishing the elimination of the bureaucratic bloat here at the Education Department – a momentous final mission – quickly and responsibly.”
The Trump administration has already laid off probationary employees, offered buyouts to others, and scaled back its civil rights enforcement efforts. Numerous grants and contracts related to research and teacher quality have also been canceled.
The report said that the department’s civil rights division had been used to target anti-Semitism on university campuses, challenge accommodations for transgender students, and scrutinize diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The Education Department is among the smallest of all federal agencies, with roughly 4,200 employees. It oversees around 100,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools across the US.
