CNN
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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 could sign the document as early as Thursday, but plans had not yet been finalized.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Calling a review of the department’s programs “long overdue,” McMahon said she agrees with Trump’s vision to give states oversight of education and empower parents to make educational choices for their children.
But she warned that these actions will “profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department.”
CNN’s Tami Luhby contributed to this report.
