In a highly anticipated move on Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, calling it a “historic action that is 45 years in the making.” The East Room ceremony was attended by GOP governors from Texas, Indiana, Florida, and Ohio, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, senior advisor Stephen Miller, along with a number of students and other special guests.
“We are going to be returning education very simply BACK TO THE STATES where it belongs,” Trump said. “It’s a commonsense thing to do and it’s going to work.”
Since 1979, the White House noted, the Department has spent over $3 trillion, with per-pupil spending up 245%, yet NAEP data shows dismal results.
“The United States spends more money per pupil than any country, yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success,” President Trump said; adding “70% of eighth graders are not proficient in either reading or math. Despite these breathtaking failures, the Department’s discretionary budget has exploded by 600% and employs bureaucrats in buildings all over Washington D.C.”
“Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” Trump said.
Stephen Miller framed it as a cultural fight. “The Department of Education here in Washington, D.C. is overwhelmingly staffed by Radical-Left Marxist bureaucrats who are, in every way, hostile to Western Civilization, hostile to American interests, and hostile to our founding documents and culture,” he said in a Fox News interview on Thursday.
The executive order notes the Department’s creation under President Jimmy Carter — spurred by a teachers’ union endorsement — was the start of an entrenched bureaucracy that failed to deliver results. Instead, taxpayer money to the tune of $10 million annually is spent on a public relations office with more than 80 staffers.
“While the Department of Education does not educate anyone,” the order states, its closure would allow families to “escape a system that is failing them.”
Beyond K-12, the order targets the Department’s mismanagement of higher education, specifically its $1.6 trillion student loan portfolio — equivalent in size to Wells Fargo but managed by just 1,500 staff in the Office of Federal Student Aid, compared to the bank’s 200,000 employees.
“The Department of Education is not a bank,” the order asserts, calling for these functions to be transferred to entities better equipped to serve students. It also mandates that any remaining federal education funds end all programs promoting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or gender ideology, which it labels as “illegal discrimination,” as part of its broader push to return education authority to the states.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee cheered the move on X Wednesday. “President @realDonaldTrump is right: it’s time to end the Dept. of Education & hand states the reins. TN has proven that when states lead, students succeed.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is in the midst of a push for school choice, wrote in early March, “Every Texas family should have this option! I will continue working with the Texas Legislature to make this happen.”
Outspoken teachers union chief Randi Weingarten was less enthusiastic. On Wednesday, the American Federation of Teachers president posted on X, “Education is our kids future. Education is our country’s future. Mr. President, we will see you in court.”
NAACP president Derrick Johnson said in a Thursday statement, “This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump.”
But public sentiment is decidedly with the school choice proponents. Around the nation, state legislatures are working to expand school choice parental control in their children’s education. In Tennessee, Governor Lee signed the Education Freedom Act of 2025 in mid-February that created a universal education savings account (ESA) program that launches in the fall. In the first year, the Education Freedom Act provides $7,296 per student to 20,000 families — half of which is reserved for low- and middle-income households.
Texas poured $85 billion into education from its last legislative session and proposed another $8 billion this year as it edges closer to ESA passage after a pro-school-choice shift in the state house. There, House Bill 1456 aims to root out waste with a new Inspector General.
Louisiana’s LA GATOR ESA program, set to go universal in 2025, follows Arkansas and Florida, both leaders with fully implemented ESAs. In Oklahoma, State Superintendent Ryan Walters proposed electing superintendents to boost accountability.
“The federal government doesn’t belong in the classroom, plain and simple,” Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville noted; adding, “Promises made, promises kept.”
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Christina Botteri is the Executive Editor at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
