President Trump ordered the Department of Education to begin wrapping up all but essential operations Thursday — launching one of the most aggressive moves to reduce the size of the federal government in American history.

The DOE, the president said during an East Room ceremony, has delivered “breathtaking failures” since being established by an act of Congress and President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

“We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states, where it belongs,” said Trump, flanked by Republican governors, conservative influencers, and students — the last of whom were seated in classroom desks arranged behind his lectern.

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday ordering the Department of Education to begin wrapping up all but essential operations — one of the most aggressive moves to reduce the size of the federal government in American history. AFP via Getty Images

The department, the president said during an East Room ceremony, has delivered “breathtaking failures” since being established by an act of Congress and President Jimmy Carter in 1979. REUTERS

“This is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a common sense thing to do, and it’s going to work,” the president added.

Trump has long said he wishes to do away with the department and give state and local governments more power as he bids to jump-start America’s education system and compete with foreign countries like China, whose students routinely score better in testing. 

Protesters gather during a demonstration at the headquarters of the Department of Education, Friday, March 14, 2025, in Washington. AP

“Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” the text of the executive order states, later adding: “The Federal education bureaucracy is not working.”

“Everybody knows it’s right, and the Democrats know it’s right,” said Trump, adding that he hopes both parties in Congress join to fully eliminate the department through legislation.

The order directs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

Protesters rally outside the department. ZUMAPRESS.com

Any remaining programs at the department will be forbidden from advancing gender ideology or espousing the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

Trump clarified in his White House remarks that student loans, Pell Grants and Title I funding will be “preserved”, but ultimately redistributed to other agencies and departments. Earlier this month, the president suggested that the Small Business Administration be responsible for handling federally backed loans — though the Treasury or Commerce departments may also take over the job, though it would likely take months for those responsibilities to be transferred.

Regarding student loans, the order states, the department “currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo. 

 Trump clarified in his White House remarks that student loans, Pell Grants and Title I funding will be “preserved”, but ultimately redistributed to other agencies and departments.  REUTERS

“But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid. The Department of Education is not a bank, and it must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.”

“After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country, and spends, likewise by far, more money per pupil than any country, and it’s not even close, but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success,” Trump opined at the White House Thursday.

“Despite these breathtaking failures, the department’s discretionary budget has exploded by 600% in a very short period of time. It employs bureaucrats in buildings all over Washington, DC, and as a former real estate person, I will tell you I ride through the streets of Washington and it says, ‘Department of Education,’ ‘Department of Education.’ I said, ‘How do you fill those buildings? It’s crazy.’”

The order also noted that taxpayers provided the department with approximately $200 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic “on top of the more than $60 billion they spend annually on Federal school funding.”

“While the Department of Education does not educate anyone,” the executive action said, “it maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year.”

EJ Antoni, senior economist at the Heritage Foundation — which suggested in its Project 2025 blueprint that other DOE responsibilities be transferred to agencies like the Justice Department (enforcing civil rights law) and the Department of Health and Human Services (funding for students with disabilities) told The Post the department’s creation “was a gross overreach by the federal government in violation of individual rights and state rights.”

“Aside from the department’s dubious constitutionality, it has been an absolute money pit, swelling an already bloated bureaucracy,” he said. “Those who understand the need for small government are cheering along the process of unwinding this disastrous department.”

The Trump administration had already been making moves to downsize the agency — laying off 1,315 employees last week — which McMahon, who the president wished Thursday to “be our last Education Secretary,” described as a reduction in “bureaucratic bloat.”

“We wanted to make sure that we kept all of the right people, the good people, to make sure that the outward-facing programs, the grants, the appropriations that come from Congress, all of that are being met and none of that’s going to fall through the cracks,” she said of the cuts.

A girl carries a protest sign to save the Department of Education. AP

The executive order to reduce the department’s power is likely to face legal challenges from liberal advocates and teacher’s unions, among other groups. 

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten was quick to issue a statement Thursday telling the administration “see you in court.”

McMahon told Fox News’ “Special Report” Thursday night that she and Weingarten have never spoken, adding that the administration wants to “make education better for children” as well as teachers — who the secretary claimed are “leaving the profession because they are bogged down by regulation.”

“Let’s lift that burden and let them do what they do best, which is teach,” McMahon added, also saying that Trump “is an absolute proponent of school choice, and we are going to work very hard to make sure that children are not held prisoner in failing schools.”

Trump stressed that he wants to “take care of our teachers,” saying he doesn’t mind if they join unions and that he thinks teachers can collaborate with parents better on the local level.

“People have wanted to do this for many, many years, for many, many decades,” he concluded, “and I don’t know, no president ever got around to doing it, but I’m getting around to doing it.”