By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will sign a long-anticipated executive order on Thursday that aims to shut down the Department of Education, the White House said on Wednesday, fulfilling a key campaign pledge.
The move is already being challenged by a group of Democratic state attorneys general, who filed a lawsuit last week seeking to block the Trump administration from dismantling the department and halt the firing of nearly half of its staff.
The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure (of) the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
It also mandates that any programs or activities receiving remaining Department of Education funds should not “advance DEI or gender ideology,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The order was first reported in early March.
Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the department, calling it “a big con job.” He proposed shuttering it in his first term as president, but Congress did not act.
His fellow Republicans have long sought to chip away at the Education Department’s funding and influence.
McMahon, the co-founder and former CEO of the WWE professional wrestling franchise, who was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, had defended Trump’s plans to abolish the agency, but has promised that federal school funding appropriated by Congress to assist low-income school districts and students would continue.
A source familiar with the order said student loans and services for children with disabilities were codified in law and would continue.
Trump said last month he wanted the department to be closed immediately, but acknowledged he would need buy-ins from Congress, which determines its funding, and teachers’ unions.
The department’s defenders say it is crucial to keeping public education standards high and accuse Republicans of trying to push for-profit education. An immediate closure could disrupt tens of billions of dollars in aid to K-12 schools and tuition assistance for college students.
Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have attempted to dismantle government programs and institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development without congressional approval, but abolishing the Department of Education would be Trump’s first shutdown of a cabinet-level agency.
The department oversees some 100,000 public and 34,000 private schools in the United States, although more than 85% of public school funding comes from state and local governments.
The department provides federal grants for needy schools and programs, including money to pay teachers of children with special needs, fund arts programs and replace outdated infrastructure.
It also oversees the $1.6 trillion in student loans held by tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford to pay for university outright.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)
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