CNN —
President Donald Trump could decide this week to take the first steps to eliminate the Department of Education, people familiar with the matter said, as he looks to dramatically shrink the size of the federal government.
White House officials have prepared an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the department, the sources said.
Trump has long signaled his intention to close the department, but fully eliminating it will require Congress to act, McMahon said during confirmation hearings earlier this year. She was confirmed Monday.
CNN previously reported the administration was drafting an order to launch the process of closing the Department of Education. Trump also plans to push for Congress to pass legislation to end the department.
The draft order directs McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” while operating to the “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
“The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars—and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support—has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the draft order reads.
It’s not clear when Trump would sign the order, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that it would not be Thursday.
While calls to abolish the Education Department or merge it with another federal agency are not new, the move has historically failed to get support from Congress.
Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Philadelphia-area Democrat, criticized the Trump administration in harsh terms Thursday for the moves to dismantle the Education Department, but said the news was “no surprise.”
“What you do want is an educated electorate,” Dean told CNN. “Not if you’re Donald Trump and his cult-like members. They want citizens who are not educated.”
Dean cited the chapter on education in Project 2025 — the far-right blueprint for Trump’s second term. “This is what the first sentence says. Shut it down. Eliminate the Department of Education.”
Skepticism on Thursday extended to some congressional Republicans too.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, said she does not support dismantling the department, pointing to critical programs for children with disabilities and those who come from low-income families.
“There are synergies that occur having them all in one department. There may be a case for spinning off some programs, there may be a case for downsizing the department, but those are decisions that the new secretary should make,” said Collins.
“The decision on whether to abolish the department is one that only Congress can make. The president does not have the authority to completely abolish the department,” the Maine Republican added.
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, who chairs the panel that has oversight of the Department of Education, expressed support for letting states have more jurisdiction over education systems, but said he needed to see more details of the Trump administration’s plan to cut the federal agency.
“I think you need to define what is meant by ‘winding down,’” the Louisiana Republican told CNN’s Manu Raju. “Returning control to the states and localities is, I think, technically, a good idea,” he added.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly pointed to the department as a sign of federal overreach and tied it to culture war issues. “We will drain the government education swamp and stop the abuse of your taxpayer dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all sorts of things that you don’t want to have our youth hearing,” he said.
“I told Linda (McMahon), ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job in putting yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job – Education Department,” Trump said last month.
Even if Trump succeeded in ending the department, it’s possible some programs and funding could be retained and shifted to other agencies, which is where they were housed before the department was created in 1979.
Federal funding programs for K-12 schools that help support the education of students from low-income families and children with disabilities, for example, predated the creation of the Department of Education.
Trump says he wants the Department of Education closed immediately
01:12 – Source: CNN
Hours after being confirmed, McMahon sent a message to her staff titled “Our Department’s Final Mission,” in which she invited employees to “join us in this historic final mission on behalf of all students.”
“This is our opportunity to perform one final, unforgettable public service to future generations of students,” she said. “I hope you will join me in ensuring that when our final mission is complete, we will all be able to say that we left American education freer, stronger, and with more hope for the future.”
In coming months, the agency will work with Congress and other federal departments on next steps, she said.
A review of the department’s programs “long overdue,” McMahon told staff, noting the agency has received $1 trillion in federal funding since its establishment but that student outcomes have “languished.”
But she warned that these actions will “profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department.” The task is “the elimination of bureaucratic bloat” at the agency, she said.
“Millions of young Americans are trapped in failing schools, subjected to radical anti-American ideology, or saddled with college debt for a degree that has not provided a meaningful return on their investment,” she said. “Teachers are leaving the profession in droves after just a few years—and citing red tape as one of their primary reasons.”
Under her leadership, the agency’s three principles will be: Parents are the primary decision makers; education should concentrate on math, reading, science and history, and postsecondary education should prepare students for well-paying careers.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Ali Main contributed to this report.
