President Donald Trump will sign a long-awaited executive order on Thursday aimed at eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, fulfilling his campaign promise to dismantle the agency, according to senior Trump administration officials, US Today newspaper first reported.
Trump is expected to sign the executive order, which he has been working on for weeks, at a ceremony at the White House attended by Republican governors and state education commissioners.
Trump will instruct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the states,” according to a White House summary of the order reviewed by USA TODAY. He also calls for “the uninterrupted delivery of the services, programs and assistance Americans rely on.”
Trump's order, which is almost certain to invite legal challenges from the left, poses a new test of the limits of presidential power after the Trump administration's efforts to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development were blocked this week by a federal district judge in Maryland.
The department, established by Congress in 1979 as a Cabinet-level agency, will not be shut down immediately with Trump’s signature. It would require Congressional action to eliminate it entirely.
While Trump has significantly reduced the agency’s workforce in recent weeks, the agency remains in existence and continues to oversee federal funding programs vital to schools.
White House Chief Press SözcüThe order will “empower parents, states and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students,” Assistant Secretary of State Harrison Fields told USA TODAY. Fields said recent test results on the National Assessment of Educational Progress “reveal a national crisis — our kids are falling behind.”
