WSJ: Trump eyes eliminating Education Department with executive order

President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education, according to a draft order reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The order instructs McMahon to "take all necessary steps" to close the department "to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."

McMahon alluded to the move in an email to staff shortly after her Senate confirmation, stating that she was tasked with eliminating "bureaucratic bloat" and returning education oversight to the states. However, fully dissolving the department would require congressional action, including a sixty-vote Senate majority to repeal statutory programs such as student loans and funding for students with disabilities.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 has provided a blueprint for the department’s closure, recommending transferring civil rights enforcement to the Justice Department and shifting student-loan management to the Treasury Department. Trump has previously criticized the department, calling federal oversight of education a failed experiment. His administration has already weakened the agency by cutting staff, halting civil rights enforcement, and canceling grants.

Abolishing the department has been a longstanding conservative goal since its creation in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter. However, polls suggest most Americans oppose its elimination, and Democrats have vowed to fight the move.