Trump Admin’s Dismantling of Education Department: Here’s Where Things Stand

Trump Admin’s Dismantling of Education Department: Here’s Where Things Stand
President Donald Trump holds an executive order after signing it alongside Secretary of Education Linda McMahon (R) in the East Room of the White house on March 20, 2025. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
|Updated:
It’s been nine months since President Donald Trump signed his executive order to dismantle the Education Department—something other U.S. leaders have called for, but never attempted. 

Trump has acknowledged that only Congress can completely eliminate the department. Instead, his plan is to press ahead and dismantle it, to move its functions to other agencies, and to leave just a cabinet secretary in place as the sole employee along with a physical location, before any legislative vote.

Aaron Gifford
Aaron Gifford
Author
Aaron Gifford has written for several daily newspapers, magazines, and specialty publications and also served as a federal background investigator and Medicare fraud analyst. He graduated from the University at Buffalo and is based in Upstate New York.