US President Donald Trump stands together with the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon after signing the executive order to reduce the size and scope of the education department during the ceremony in the eastern room of the White House on March 20, 2025 in Washington (photo chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Washington – in a extensive ordinance signed on Thursday President Donald Trump called the Secretary for Education Linda McMahon to “take all the necessary steps to facilitate the closing” of the USA Education Department.
Asset I signed the order During the main ceremony of the White House, surrounded by children sitting at the desks. He directs McMahon “to restore the authority over education to local countries and communities, while ensuring effective and uninterrupted provision of services, programs and benefits that Americans rely.”
Trump talked to the audience full of the best GOP state officials and quoted republican government. Greg Abbott from Texas, Mike Braun from Indiana, Ron Desantis from Florida, Bill Lee from Tennessee, Kim Reynolds from Iowa, Jeff Landry from Louisiana, Brad Little from Idaho, Jim Pilelen from Nebraska and Mike Devin from Ohio.
Deena Bishop, Commissioner Alaska’s Department of Education and Early DevelopmentShe was supposed to participate, although Trump did not cite her.
“After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education so far than any other country and spend more money on a student than any country, and it is not even close, but we take a list at the top in terms of success,” said Trump during a tiny ceremony.
Representatives of GOP Tim Walberg from Michigan and Virginia Foxx from North Carolina were also present, the present and former chairman of the Education and Working Committee.
Each of the children signed their own individual executive orders, proudly showing them alongside Trump.
An order that will certainly exploit legal challenges, “also directs that programs or activities receiving other educational funds will not develop Dei or gender ideology”, referring to diversity, own capital and inclusion.
Universal reports before signing attracted an intensive explosion of leading educational groups, trade unions and congress democrats.
Rep. Bobby Scott, a ranking, a member of the Education and Working Form Committee, noted that the Department “was partly founded to guarantee the enforcement of civil rights of students” on Thursday.
“Apart from the legality, disassembly (department) will exacerbate existing differences, reduce responsibility and cause that low -income students, color students, disabled students, rural students and English as students threatened with a second language (ESL)”, added Virginia Democrat.
Title I, Idea funds
Many duties of the Department include federal administering student assistance, conducting investigations on civil rights, ensuring the financing of the title and for low -income school districts, and guarantees free public education for disabled children through the Act on the education of disabled people.
After signing, McMahon explained in statement This “closing of the department does not mean cutting off funds from those who depend on them-we will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, student borrowers and others who rely on basic programs.”
“We follow the law and eliminate bureaucracy responsibly, working through the Congress to ensure compliance with the law and an ordered transition,” said McMahon.
Trump’s promising campaign for a long time about the transfer of education “back to the States” appears despite a significant part of financing and supervision over schools at the state and local level. The department may also not legally dictate the school curriculum throughout the country.
Congress has the exclusive right to close the department, and each bill on the completely closing of the agency will have extreme difficulties with a narrowly controlled Senate, with at least 60 senators needed to cross a filibuster.
However, administration may be possible to take significant actions without closing, such as transferring certain functions of the education department to other agencies.
The agency has an annual budget of $ 79 billion for discretionary expenses or funds allocated by Congress.
Exemptions, redemptions
The department was already a witness Mass layoffsIN contractIN Purchase of staff AND Main changes in politics In weeks from the moment of taking Trump’s office.
Earlier in March the department announced that over 1,300 employees would be cut out By “Power reduction“Process,” causes concerns in the whole country how mass exemptions would affect the agency’s abilities to perform basic functions.
The department had 4133 employees when Trump took office, but the cuts led the total number of employees remaining to around 2183.
Group 21 democratic general lawyers I quickly sued this effort and was asked by the Federal Court in Massachusetts to block the “reduction” and “Trump Directive to dismantle the Education Department.”
Incoming
Opponents of the closure said that this is another example of how Trump and billionaire Elon Musk, the head of the ephemeral service of US Doge, try to destroy the federal government when they reduce their labor and expenses.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk aimed their destructive ball to public schools and term contracts 50 million students of rural, suburban and urban communities throughout America, by dismantling public education, to pay billionaire for tax leaflets,” said Becky Pryingle, president of the National Education Association, on Wednesday’s evening in Wednesday. statement.
“Now Trump is again with the last effort to move the programs of the Education Department that support every student throughout the country,” added Pringle, who manages the largest trade union in the country.
“If it succeeds, Trump’s further actions will harm all students by sending class sizes, cutting out vocational training programs, increasing more expensive education of higher education and there is no reach for middle class families, receiving special educational services for disabled students and looking for the protection of civil rights of students,” she said.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers in the country, detained it answer to reports of the upcoming concise order.
“See you in court,” she said.
