Trump signs order gutting Department of Education while surrounded by kids

President Donald Trump, surrounded by schoolchildren sitting at desks, signed an executive order that aims to further gut the Department of Education at the White House on Thursday.

The order, titled "Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities," directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary steps to shrink the Department of Education.

"Today we take a historic action that was 45 years in the making," he said, noting that his order will "begin eliminating the federal Department of Education."

The move has been months in the making and will help the president fulfill his campaign promise of returning education power and decisions to the states.

"We're going to eliminate it," Trump said. "Everybody knows it's right, and the Democrats know it's right."

However, congressional approval is required to abolish a federal agency, and McMahon has acknowledged she would need Congress to carry out the president's vision to close the department she's been tapped to lead. It would take 60 "yes" votes in the Senate to overcome the filibuster and dismantle the department that Congress created.

"The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier Thursday, noting the department will not be completely shut down yet and that it will continue to carry out "critical functions."

"But we don't need to be spending more than $3 trillion over the course of a few decades on a department that's clearly failing in its initial intention to educate our students," she said.

Trump is directing McMahon to take "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States," the order said, and he added in the ceremony that he hopes she will be the last secretary of the department.

The order also calls for the "uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely." It's still unclear how the administration plans to accomplish that. Sources said the administration has been looking into how to move some of the key programs to other agencies.

Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Greg Abbott of Texas, Mike Braun of Indiana, Kim Reynolds of Iowa, Jeff Landry of Louisiana and Mike DeWine of Ohio were among the state leaders attending the signing ceremony.

"We want to return our students to the states, where just some of the governors here are so happy about this," Trump said. "They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states, and they're going to do a phenomenal job."

However, several Democrats and education advocates slammed the order.

"This is a code red for every public school student, parent and teacher in this country," Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said. "Trump is telling public school kids in America that their futures don't matter. Billionaires like Trump and Musk won't feel the difference when after school programs are slashed, class sizes go up and help for families to pay for school gets cut. But working families, students, and teachers will pay a heavy price."

"Shutting down the Department of Education will harm millions of children in our nation's public schools, their families and hardworking teachers," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a Thursday statement. "Congress created the Department of Education and only an act of Congress can eliminate it. We will stop this malignant Republican scheme in the House of Representatives and in the Courts."

House Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Bobby Scott, D-Va., said the order will cause "irreparable harm" to students and educators.

"By dismantling ED, President Trump is implementing his own philosophy on education which can be summed up in his own words, 'I love the poorly educated,'" he added.

The department took the first steps to downsize last week when it laid off nearly half its employees, and it shrunk significantly in size through a massive reduction in force, deferred resignations and retirement buyouts, according to the department.

Trump is continuing the reforms with his order -- pledging to erase more staff from the department.

"I expect it will [be shut down entirely]," Trump said on "Full Measure" with Sharyl Attkisson earlier this month. "You'll have a few people left just to make sure [the states are] teaching English -- you know, you say reading, writing and arithmetic."

Critics argue the department is needed for vital financial assistance and grant programs. Education experts suggested that shuttering the Department of Education could gut public education funding and disproportionately affect high-need students across the country who rely on statutorily authorized programs, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Title 1, which provides funding for low-income families.

These programs could be housed in a reformed, shrunken-down Department of Education or other agencies, and McMahon said the department will still administer those statutory programs that students from disadvantaged backgrounds rely on. In an interview on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," McMahon suggested the "good" employees who administer the statutorily mandated functions will not be harmed by staff reductions.

"Legality aside, dismantling ED will exacerbate existing disparities, reduce accountability and put low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities and rural students at risk," Scott said.

A statement from the department said it will "continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency's purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking."

"They're going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them," Trump said Thursday. "But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department."

However, some critics noted that the department does more than administer funding of key programs.

"The department does more than disperse funds," Agency CEO and public education advocate Debbie Veney said. "It ensures accountability, enforces civil rights protections and upholds educational standards. Eliminating it would weaken oversight and put millions of students at risk."

"Instead of dismantling a vital institution, leaders should focus on strengthening education policies that support students, families and schools," she added.

The National Parents Union also condemned the order as unconstitutional and said students will suffer from a lack of a federal Department of Education.

"Let's call this what it is: An assault on our kids' future and playing chicken with a constitutional crisis with the willful disregard of Congressional authority," it said in a statement. "This isn't fixing education. It's making sure millions of children never get a fair shot. And we're not about to let that happen without a fight."

Still, some school advocates said Trump's order did not go far enough, with American Federation for Children CEO Tommy Schultz saying Trump has "brought down a failed bureaucratic machine in DC."

"With this executive order, President Trump continues taking steps to fulfill his campaign promises on education, and now it is time for Congress to send school choice legislation to his desk so that he can fulfill his other mandate to the voters," he said."

In more than four decades, Trump and Department of Education skeptics have said they believe the agency has had too much spending power without achieving results.

After McMahon was sworn in, she underscored that abolishing the department is rooted in allowing families the right to choose a "quality education" so America's students aren't "stuck in failing schools."

"This is also, I would say, a national security issue," Leavitt added Thursday morning. "When you look at how students around the world, particularly in China, are being educated, American students are falling behind. We're not keeping up with our allies or our adversaries, and that's a major problem for our country, and the president is fixing it today."

After Trump signed the bill, House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg said McMahon "understands the importance of getting the federal government out of the way."

"Bottom line, the Department of Education has failed to deliver results for America's students and today's actions by the Trump administration will help ensure our nation's youth are put first," he added.