US President Donald Trump plans to sign an order on Thursday, March 20, instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the United States Department of Education.
The New York Times reported this, citing two White House officials.
It is noted that the Department cannot be closed without the approval of Congress, which created it. But the Trump administration has already taken steps to narrow the agency's powers and significantly reduce its staff, and has also announced plans to close it.
Closing the Department of Education is generally unpopular, according to public opinion polls. Several polls over the past month have shown that about two-thirds of Americans oppose the idea.
Trump's order is expected to trigger another legal battle for the administration, which is already embroiled in numerous lawsuits.
Republican attempts to close the agency date back to the 1980s. But they have gained momentum in recent years as the parenting movement has grown.
The movement has grown out of opposition to progressive programs that have promoted certain educational standards and inclusive policies for LGBTQ+ students. Activists have argued that these policies undermine parental rights and values.
At the same time, engagement around education issues has existed for decades, from progressive teachers’ unions to conservative Republican presidential candidates in 2016.
The debate has caught the nation’s 50 million public school students, 15 percent of whom have disabilities. The debate is also being watched by high school seniors who receive Pell Grants because they are low-income (nearly a third of all college students) and those who receive federal student loans (about 28 percent).
In the United States, public schools are largely funded by taxes collected by states and municipalities, which by definition already have control over that money. The federal government accounts for about 10% of total school funding, but the Department of Education allocates that money largely according to federal law, not at the discretion of the president.
Closing the department itself would not eliminate various laws that provide federal funding to underserved public schools and school districts or to specific groups of students, including those with disabilities. In addition, many education policy issues are overseen by other agencies, and the department does not oversee schools on military bases or Native American lands.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the Trump administration has meanwhile prepared a proposal to review the structure of how billions of dollars in foreign aid are distributed, according to an internal memo that calls for funding fewer areas that it believes better serve US geopolitical interests.
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