Trump signs executive order to shut down Department of Education

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to significantly reduce the role of the federal Department of Education, fulfilling a key campaign promise made by him and his Republican Party.

The move shifts control over school policies to states and local boards, raising concerns among liberal education advocates.

By doing this, he is advancing a campaign promise to dismantle an agency that has long been a target of conservatives.

Trump has derided the Education Department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology. However, completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Republicans have said they will introduce legislation to achieve this, while Democrats have quickly lined up to oppose the idea.

Trump has criticised the Education Department as wasteful and influenced by liberal ideology.

However, the department can only be shut down by an act of Congress, which established it in 1979. Republicans plan to introduce a bill for this, but Democrats are strongly opposing the idea.

The order states that the education secretary will, “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.”

It offers no details on how that work will be carried out or where it will be targeted, though the White House has said the agency will retain certain critical functions.

Trump said his administration will close the department beyond its “core necessities,” preserving its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell Grants, and funding for children with disabilities.

The White House said earlier on Thursday that the department will continue to manage federal student loans, but the order appears to say otherwise. It states that the Education Department lacks the staff to oversee its $1.6 trillion loan portfolio and “must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.”

At a signing ceremony, Trump blamed the department for America’s lagging academic performance and said states would do a better job.

“It’s doing us no good,” he said.