US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, calling for the dismantling of the US Department of Education. The move fulfils a promise made by Trump in his 2024 campaign trail, deriding the agency as “wasteful” and “polluted by liberal ideology.”
The order states that the Education Secretary will take steps to close the department, returning authority over education to states and local communities. However, it does not provide details on how this will be carried out or where it will target.
Trump has promised to preserve certain critical functions, including funding for Title I, Pell grants, and money for children with disabilities. The White House says the department will continue to manage federal student loans, although the order appears to contradict this.
The Education Department’s workforce is being slashed in half, with deep cuts made to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has promised to remove red tape and empower states to decide what’s best for their schools.
Advocates for public schools have warned that eliminating the department will leave children behind in an unequal education system. The measure is likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979. Democrats are already lining up to oppose the idea, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing to fight the order.
Source: https://www.euronews.com/2025/03/20/ukrainian-forces-have-not-been-encircled-in-kursk-region-kyiv-and-military-officials-say