President Donald Trump has kept his promise of a campaign to start shutting down the Department of Education, but his efforts could face court challenges and constitutional barriers.
On Thursday, Republican leaders held an elaborate ceremony to sign an executive order that puts the end of the department into motion.
The children’s semicircles were placed on desks around the president, each signing their own version of the presidential order. The kids followed when Trump didn’t cap his markers to sign order. So did the kids when he lifted the completed order for the camera.
“I will sign an executive order to completely eliminate the abolition of the Federal Department of Education,” Trump said in a statement before the signing ceremony.
“And that sounds weird, doesn’t it? Education Department, we’re going to eliminate it. Everyone knows it’s right, and Democrats know it’s right.”
But Democrats and education advocates quickly condemned the action not only as another example of the president’s overreach, but also as an effort to hurt students across the country.
“To try to demolish the Department of Education is one of the most devastating and devastating measures Donald Trump has ever taken. This.
The order called on longtime Trump ally, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, to “take all necessary steps” to promote the closure of departments that must be approved by Congress.
The Department of Education was established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter as part of an effort to integrate various education initiatives within the federal government. In doing so, he created a new cabinet-level position. It argued that Republicans would leach power out of state and local school boards.
However, the department has a limited number of duties. Rather than setting up curriculum and school programming, it focuses on collecting education data, disseminating research, disseminating federal aid, and implementing anti-discrimination measures.
Trump draws test scores
Still, Trump repeatedly holds a department responsible for low educational outcomes in US schools, experts say it’s misleading.
“We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we’re not for a long time,” Trump said at a ceremony Thursday.
The US certainly tracks other countries with globally standardized test scores, but as Trump sometimes claims, it’s never the last.
The International Student Assessment Program (PISA), an international indicator of educational standards, found that American students were ranked as the average test score.
From 2018 to 2022, test scores were declining in mathematics. This is a PISA due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, reading and science achievements remained stable.
Meanwhile, Trump has also linked it to his wider campaign to reduce federal waste and fraud allegations, including widespread layoffs.
He explained that he offered an acquisition offer to education employees from the podium on Thursday.
“We cut the number of bureaucrats in half. 50% received the offer,” Trump applauded.
He said the employees “have a small number of Democrats and other Democrats and other Democrats that we have been employed for a long time.
Trump has previously committed to ousting all “Biden bureaucrats” and setting up loyalists instead.
However, critics say he targeted nonpartisan civil servants with his layoffs. Many of them help maintain government stability from government to administration.
Trump’s allies at risk of losing their position under a departmental shakeup are McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.
But Trump reassured her from the podium on Thursday that she would remain in his government. “We’re going to find something else for you, Linda.”
Does Trump have authority?
Despite his executive order, Trump cannot shut down the Department of Education on his own.
Only the Congress can formally close cabinet-level departments. But already Republicans like Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy have stepped forward to launch legislative lawsuits.
“I agree with President Trump that the Department of Education has failed that mission,” Cassidy said in a news release.
“The department can only be closed with Congressional approval, so we support the President’s goals by bringing the law to achieve this as soon as possible.”
However, if such a law were to be introduced, it would not generate enough support to reach the 60 vote threshold required to overcome the 100-seat Senate filibuster.
“Republicans don’t have that,” said Sihab Ratansi, correspondent Al Jazeera, who reports from Washington, D.C. Only a majority of Republicans have a seat of 53.
Still, Ratanshi predicts that the issue will likely end before the Supreme Court as education advocates prepare them for legal challenges.
The education sector is “thought to be a relatively low, drooping fruit,” Ratansi explained, as the Trump administration is trying to expand its executive reach.
“They have a very broad view of enforcement, and they want to test it in court,” he said.
Part of the reason for its vulnerability is that its department is relatively young, and it was established within the past half century.
However, Ratanshi warned that important educational functions could be lost or halted while legal challenges run through the court system.
“What the Ministry of Education does is ensure equal access to education for minorities, poor children, disabled children, etc., so there is a level of surveillance that could potentially be removed as trials take place,” he said.
“But in the long run, this is about testing the limits of Donald Trump’s enforcement.”
Already, teacher unions like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are preparing for a legal battle.
“The Republican governor of the White House is concerned about the impact that members across the country will have on students as they celebrate the dismantling of the federal role in education,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. “This is not efficiency, it’s internal organs.”
What will the functions of the department be?
Trump’s executive order pledges to ensure “effective and uninterrupted provision of services, programs and benefits that Americans rely on.”
However, critics fear programs like Pell Grant, which provides financial aid to low-income students, and services for students with disabilities can suffer as the department is broken down. Trump tried to ease these concerns on Thursday.
“They will be fully preserved and redistributed to various other institutions and departments.
However, he emphasized that individual states will take over most of the functions of the department. His order specified that further federal funds would not be sent to programs related to “gender ideology” or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
“We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as soon as possible,” Trump said of the education department.
“That’s not helpful to us. We want students back here. Only a portion of the governors here are very happy about this.”
The audience was Trump’s former rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in the 2024 presidential election.
Still, critics like Michigan Democrat Rashida Tribe argued that there was no other institution capable of enforcing national standards for equal access to education.
“Federal funds in the department ensure that quality education can be achieved regardless of who all children are or which postcode. Without the Department of Education, many of our children will be left behind and will not be able to receive the education they need,” she wrote in a statement.
“Without the Department of Education, no one is left to ensure that civil rights laws are enacted in our schools.”
She added that Thursday’s move is blatantly unconstitutional. “I look forward to being challenged in court.”
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