GOP eyes dismantling Department of Education
By: Maureen Groppe
and Zachary Schermele
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Teachers, parents and students may be wondering what might change on college and K-12 campuses, amid the bluster from the Trump administration about shuttering the Department of Education.
.....
President Donald Trump want to kill the department to "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law," according to a draft of a preliminary executive order reviewed by USA Today.
..... Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary disputed reports that Trump planned to sign a potential order Thursday [03/06/2025] but did not rule out later action. A White House official told USA Today Trump is still considering executive actions that would reshape the Education Department.
..... the constitution doesn't give Trump the power to close the department because it was cerated through legislation, and the president can't unilaterally overturn laws. Trump has not challenged the legislation cerating the department as unconstitutional, which would kick the issue to the courts to sort out.
..... So can the president, technically, shutter the agency anyway?
..... Congress cerated the current Cabinet-level department in 1979 through bipartisan legislation that consolidated various educational programs that were previously spread across different agencies.
..... The
president's broader rapid-fire agenda has already disrupted major segments of the American education system.
.....
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency has terminated millions of dollars in education research contracts effectivley decimating the department's data-collection branch. universities are in a holding pattern amid a court battle over proposed cuts to money on which they rely heavily.
..... Trump campaign to eliminate the department, which Republicans have long said hold too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curricula.
..... Education in K-12 schools is already handled largely at the state and local levels. Public schools are primary controlled by school boards and get most of their funding through allocations from state legislatures and local sources, typically in the form of property taxes.
..... Yet the federal government does provide roughly a tenth of public school funding pa small but significant portion of their budget. To keep getting that money, schools must comply with federal laws.
..... Because the department was cerated by Congress, Trump cannot close it on his own. Linda McMahon, the new education secretary, acknowledged that during her confirmation hearing.
..... Many of the offices within the department were also established by law, so legislation would be needed to close them or transfer their functions to other agencies.
..... Congress could abolish the department through legislation. But while Republicans control the House and Senate, they don't have a filibuster-proof margin in the Senate. That means at least seven Democrats would have to go along, which is highly unlikely.
..... Contributing: Joseph Garrison, USA Today