President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday that will make the Department of Education “much smaller than it is today,” but keep some “critical functions,” such as Title I and student loans, under federal control, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, confirming previous reports Trump will implement the long-promised order later in the day.
President Donald Trump speaks to the press before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base ... [+]
The order is designed to give states’ control over education, Leavitt told reporters Thursday, though the federal government will still be responsible for administering Title I funding, Pell grants, student loans, special education funding and enforcement of civil rights laws, among other “critical functions.”
Trump, for weeks, has been expected to sign an order to deconstruct the agency Republicans have long claimed is a product of bureaucratic bloat.
The order is only the first step in dismantling the department, however, as the move likely requires congressional approval and firings at the agency have already prompted a lawsuit from Democratic state attorneys general.
Trump is scheduled to sign the order at 4 p.m. EDT Thursday.
Trump has long-promised to effectively shut down the agency, calling for it to be “closed immediately” last month and for Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job.” His administration has already taken steps to slash the agency’s workforce, announcing earlier this month it would eliminate half of the 4,000 positions. The department was established by statute under President Jimmy Carter in 1979. Federal dollars now account for about 10% of public school funding.
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