President Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order on Thursday that directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin demolition of the agency, according to two White House officials.
Without Congressional approval, the department cannot be closed. But the Trump administration has already taken steps to narrow down agency powers, and has cut its workforce significantly while Telegraph plans to shut it down.
White House officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to publicly speak about the plan. The order said it directed McMahon to return his authority to education to the state.
USA Today first reported Trump's intentions to sign the order on Thursday.
Republicans try to close their agency back to the 1980s. But Push has gained steam in recent years after the parental rights movement was born out of backlash towards school policies and closures during the coronavirus pandemic.
The move, which includes leading pro-Trump grassroots activists, has expanded in opposition to a progressive agenda that encourages the promotion of mandating certain educational standards and inclusive policies for LGBTQ students. Activists argued that these policies undermine parental rights and values.
But bipartisans on education have existed for decades from progressive teacher unions organized against President George W. Bush's “No Child Lefted” policy, and conservative Republican presidential candidates who opposed the common core standards that rose in 2016 by President Barack Obama's “Top the Top the Top Program.”
The people caught up in the centre are the country's 50 million public school students, 15% of whom have disabilities. Also, looking at the discussion are undergraduates who receive Pell's grants, as they qualify as low-income (nearly a third of all university students) and as people receiving federal student loans (about 28%).
Public schools are funded primarily by taxes collected by states and local governments, and by definition already control the money. The federal government accounts for about 10% of school funding, but it is distributed primarily by the education sector, not at the discretion of the president.
Washington's balance of power explains, at least in part, why modern presidents never tried to unilaterally shut down federal departments. The education division was created by the Congressional Act in 1979, and lawmakers must approve it to be eliminated.
Closing the education sector is not widely popular, polls show. Several polls over the past month have shown that about two-thirds of Americans are opposed to this idea.
Trump's order is expected to spark another legal battle for the administration, which has already been caught up in multiple lawsuits.
The modern president has never tried to unilaterally close the federal division. Other agencies, such as the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Civil Aviation Commission, were phased out under President Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, but received Congress' support through the law.
Furthermore, since the US postal service replaced the postal service over half a century ago, cabinet-level divisions have not been completely abolished. And many of the programs managed by the education sector provide lifelines to schools and students who most lawmakers have been hesitant to genize in the past.
Still, Republican lawmakers have already shown extraordinary respect for Trump, despite his actions to challenge Congressional authority in several areas while bending himself. In particular, he instructed the agency not to spend funds already granted by Congress on programs he dislikes.
Closing the department cannot revoke various laws that have established federal funding for public schools, underserved school districts, or specific student populations, including people with disabilities. Furthermore, many education policies are managed by other institutions, and the department does not oversee military bases or schools on Native American territory.
The education sector has already been redirected to pick up many of Trump's goals by ending the investigation launched under the previous administration. Start something new, reflecting your own priorities. Rollback protection for transgender students. We will crack down on diversity programs.
