In a historic move yesterday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Department of Education (DOE) to “take all necessary steps” to close down and return the education authority of America’s children back to the states. 

According to a White House fact sheet accompanying the order, the DOE has spent more than $3 trillion since its inception in 1979 without improving student achievement on standardized test scores. In fact, despite ever increasing per-student spending over that period, U.S. students still rank 28th out of 37 top international countries in math. Additional statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that 70 percent of fourth and eighth graders are “below proficient” in reading, while 60 percent of fourth graders and 72 percent of eighth graders are not proficient in math. As reading and math scores fell to their lowest in 30 years, the Biden administration imposed nearly $3.9 billion in costs and 4,239,530 paperwork hours on schools diverting teaching efforts to entrenching radical ideologies and progressive social experiments, stated the White House.

The DOE does not educate anyone, noted the White House, but rather controls American education through an “unaccountable bureaucracy” of federal programs using taxpayer dollars. This approach has “failed millions of parents, students, and teachers,” the White House stated.

“Instead of a bloated federal system that burdens schools with regulations and paperwork…states should be empowered to expand educational freedom and opportunity for all families,” said a White House statement. 

Ultimately, President Trump ordered Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to prepare to shutter the agency, empower states and local communities, while ensuring the education services programs and benefits “on which Americans rely” remain uninterrupted. The order also mandates any educational activities receiving federal assistance terminate promoting gender ideology, as well as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs, which the White House stated obscures “illegal discrimination.”

The order also directs the DOE to divest itself of its $1.6 trillion student loan debt portfolio. 

“The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students,” reads the order.

However, President Trump cannot unilaterally abolish the DOE without Congress. It was Congress that established the DOE in 1979 by statutory law at the urging of President Jimmy Carter. The Trump administration will need Congress to pass legislation that formally dissolves the agency and reallocates funding to effectively return education to state and local control.

Currently, bills have been introduced in both the U.S. House and Senate to abolish the DOE. Bill H.R. 899 in the House proposes to terminate the DOE by December 31, 2026. The Senate’s S.5384, “Returning Education to Our States Act,” would disperse many of the DOE’s functions and programs to other federal agencies. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Education is a state and local issue, and the ultimate responsibility rests with parents. The Department of Education has spent more than $3 trillion over 45 years and has produced failing results for American families. Dissolving the DOE and putting education firmly back in control at the state and local level and providing parents with school choice is a necessary step to improving American education. Our children deserve better.”