
US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to dismantle the Department of Education and return education “where it belongs.”
According to BBC, Trump on Thursday, March 20, 2025, signed orders to “begin eliminating” the federal DoE, claiming that it should have been done earlier, as it was the right thing to do.
Related: Donald Trump faces lawsuit over shocking move to scrap education department
The 78-year-old at a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House said that executive order will "begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all... We're going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs. And this is a popular thing to do.”
“But much more importantly, it's a common-sense thing to do, and it's going to work. Absolutely, it's going to work. People have wanted to do this for many, many years, for many, many decades, and I don't know; no president ever got around to doing it, but I'm getting around to doing it,” he added.
As per the White House, the president asked the education secretary, Linda McMahon, to take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of DoE and return the authority to the states.
Notably, the Department of Education started as a cabinet-level agency by Congress in 1979, but it could not be eliminated, as most of the experts believe that the entire scrapping of the department will require an act of Congress.
Related: Trump to take massive decision about US Education Department workforce