Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities

Executive Orders

TLDR

This executive order directs the Department of Education’s closure, returning educational authority to states and local communities. It requires the Secretary to facilitate legal closure steps, maintain services during transition, and ensure federal education funds comply with Administration policy, including terminating “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programs. The order cites poor student performance despite significant federal education spending as justification. Implementing this order would require congressional legislation action.

This executive order outlines President Trump’s directive to close the Department of Education and return educational authority to states and local communities.

The order establishes that:

  1. The Secretary of Education must take all necessary legal steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education
  2. Authority over education should be returned to states and local communities
  3. The Secretary must ensure uninterrupted delivery of services during this transition
  4. Federal education funds must comply with Federal law and Administration policy, including terminating programs labeled as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or those promoting “gender ideology”

The order argues that federal control of education has failed American students, citing:

  • Approximately $200 billion in federal spending on schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, plus over $60 billion in annual federal school funding
  • The Department of Education’s creation in 1979 under President Carter
  • Current national assessment scores showing 70% of 8th graders below proficiency in reading and 72% below proficiency in math
  • The department’s management of a $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio with insufficient staffing (fewer than 1,500 employees in the Office of Federal Student Aid)

This executive order represents a significant shift in federal education policy. While the order directs the closure of the Department of Education, several important considerations apply:

  1. The President cannot unilaterally abolish a Cabinet department created by Congress. The Department of Education was established through the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979, and its elimination would require congressional legislation.

  2. The order acknowledges it must be implemented “consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations,” which significantly constrains what can be accomplished without congressional action.

  3. The order doesn’t specify how existing federal education programs, grants, and student loan administration would be managed if the department were closed.

  4. States vary widely in their capacity and resources to assume all educational responsibilities currently managed at the federal level.

The practical impact of this order may be limited without corresponding legislative action from Congress, though it signals the administration’s policy direction regarding federal involvement in education.

REFERENCES

  • 2025-03-21: Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department. What does the agency do, and why is it under fire? - The Chronicle — President Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education, firing half its workforce on March 11 and mandating its closure on March 20, 2025. While the president cannot completely abolish the department through executive order alone, the administration plans to significantly reduce its size to administer only “critical functions” while returning many responsibilities to the states.
  • 2025-03-20: What does Education Department do and what will Trump’s order mean? | NBC Chicago — President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, directing Secretary Linda McMahon to facilitate its closure while returning education authority to the states. The order has sparked concerns about potential impacts on federal funding for schools, student loans, and civil rights enforcement in education.
  • 2025-02-20: The Department of Education’s History Shows It is Essential | TIME — The article discusses the history and importance of the Department of Education, highlighting how it evolved from a data-collecting office in 1867 to a cabinet-level department that distributes funding for disadvantaged students and enforces civil rights laws in schools. In March 2025, the department faces scrutiny from Trump’s administration and Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative, which are investigating education spending cuts in line with Project 2025’s proposal to eliminate the department entirely.
  • 2025-02-04: How Dismantling the Department of Education Would Harm Students | NEA — The article discusses the potential dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration, warning that such action would harm vulnerable students by cutting essential funding, eliminating civil rights protections, and reducing educational opportunities. It outlines how this move would negatively impact programs like Title I funding, special education services, and financial aid while emphasizing that educators and parents oppose these changes and will continue to advocate for well-resourced public schools.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and to enable parents, teachers, and communities to best ensure student success, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.

Purpose and Policy.

Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child. Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.

Taxpayers spent around $200 billion at the Federal level on schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, on top of the more than $60 billion they spend annually on Federal school funding. This money is largely distributed by one of the newest Cabinet agencies, the Department of Education, which has existed for less than one fifth of our Nation’s history. The Congress created the Department of Education in 1979 at the urging of President Jimmy Carter, who received a first-ever Presidential endorsement from the country’s largest teachers’ union shortly after pledging to the union his support for a separate Department of Education. Since then, the Department of Education has entrenched the education bureaucracy and sought to convince America that Federal control over education is beneficial. While the Department of Education does not educate anyone, it maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year.

Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them. Today, American reading and math scores are near historical lows. This year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. The Federal education bureaucracy is not working.

Closure of the Department of Education would drastically improve program implementation in higher education. The Department of Education currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.

Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States.

Sec. 2.

Closing the Department of Education and Returning Authority to the States.

(a) The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.

(b) Consistent with the Department of Education’s authorities, the Secretary of Education shall ensure that the allocation of any Federal Department of Education funds is subject to rigorous compliance with Federal law and Administration policy, including the requirement that any program or activity receiving Federal assistance terminate illegal discrimination obscured under the label “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or similar terms and programs promoting gender ideology.

Sec. 3.

General Provisions.

(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

© This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

DONALD J. TRUMP THE WHITE HOUSE,
March 20, 2025.