President Trump Signs Executive Order to Abolish the DOE
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday “eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”
The President was surrounded by several state governors during the signing ceremony and address beforehand. Co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice, was also in attendance.
“We’re going to be returning education back to the states where it belongs,” President Trump declared during his speech.
“This is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly it is a common sense thing to do. Everybody knows its right. The Democrats know its right. We have to get our children educated. We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country.”
At the beginning of his speech, the President said the department’s elimination was a timely matter. He then went through the history of the DOE:
“When President [Jimmy] Carter created the federal education department in 1979 it was opposed by members of his own cabinet as well as the American Federation of Teachers, the New York Times Editorial Board, and the famed democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. History has proven them right.”
According to the President, after 45 years of the DOE’s existence, the US spends more money on education than any other country. It also spends more money per pupil. Yet, Trump lamented, the country ranks at the bottom of the list of countries despite the money it has spent on education.
He then listed some statistics regarding lackluster academic ability and performance from students.
Of question is the impact the DOE’s elimination will have on its current employees. The President said he offered DOE employees “two generous buyout options” and has initiated a reduction in force with the total number of employees cut in half.
However, certain initiatives enacted by the DOE in past years will remain including Pell grants, Title I funding, and resources for students with special needs. Those will be preserved and redistributed to other various federal agencies.
Beyond those “necessities” the administration will shut down the DOE “and return students to the states.”
Trump promised that American education will become as good as Denmark’s, Sweden’s, and other top-ranking countries in education. This will happen without a federal department overseeing state education:
“The cost will be half and the education many times better,” Trump claimed. He also noted that there will be some laggard states concerning education quality compared to others.
On X, Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy posted his intention to submit legislation to get the DOE shut down as soon as possible.
TPUSA White House Correspondent Monica Paige reported on the executive order moments after it was signed, and broke down some of the statistics at the center of why the Trump Administration sought to gut the department.
“There is no strong or consistent relationship between student performance and school resources,” Paige said in her report. “For example Baltimore City Schools spent more than $20,000 per student, Chicago Public Schools spent nearly $30,000 per student. In each of those districts there were at least a dozen schools where not a single student tested proficient in either math or reading. This executive order only begins the dismantling process and would need the help of Congress to fully shut the doors.”
