Trump moves against Department of Education: What to know

President Trump has signed an executive order Thursday directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the Department of Education as much as she can, carving a path of legislative and legal fights to come.  

While the White House acknowledges the department cannot be fully eliminated without Congress, the order tells McMahon to do everything legally allowed to shrink the federal agency. 

Trump’s directive is a win for many Republicans who have argued for the department, which was created in the 1980s and is the smallest Cabinet-level agency, should have never existed, but it creates a political and legal landmine ahead.  

The move follows a massive reduction in the Education Department's workforce, which McMahon described as "the first step" toward a total shutdown.

"His directive to me, clearly, is to shut down the Department of Education, which we know we'll have to work with Congress, you know, to get that accomplished," she said on Fox News, calling the hundreds of lost jobs "bureaucratic bloat."

Here is what to know about the moves against the agency.  

What does the executive order mean for the department? 

McMahon will only be allowed to cancel programs and grants that have not been mandated by Congress. 

Some of the mandated programs include the Office of Civil Rights and education for military and native families.  

The White House said Thursday "critical functions" within the department will remain.

“The Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today. As you know, the president’s executive order directed Linda McMahon to greatly minimize the agency. So, when it comes to student loans and Pell Grants, those will still be run out of the Department of Education,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“The great responsibility of educating our nation’s students will return to the states. Any critical functions of the department … will remain,” Leavitt added. 

But the secretary previously told NewsNation her agency has been considering putting mandated programs in other federal agencies such as student loans in the Treasury Department. 

“This is not a turn off the lights and walk out of the department,” McMahon said. “It’s in close consultation with Congress and looking at how the needs of students can best be serviced.” 

In the event the agency was completely closed, McMahon said she would still want to provide states with the resources and research they would need before shutting the doors.  

Those resources could be harder to provide as the Department of Education has fired half of its workforce, going from over 4,000 employees to only a little more than 2,000 workers since the Trump administration began.  

It also already canceled hundreds of millions in grants affecting research and teaching programs.

What will it take to completely shutter the agency? 

It would take an act of Congress to completely close down the agency.  

A bill to do as such was introduced in both the House and the Senate by GOP lawmakers. But while Republicans control both chambers, it would take 60 votes to overcome a filibuster in the Senate, a threshold the party does not have.  

“The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it’s long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said when he introduced his bill back in November.  

During McMahon’s confirmation hearing, one of the biggest issues Democrats had with her was her desire to see the department be abolished.  

“Why do you think that a department that is focused and that really is dealing with children, whether it’s civil rights, disabilities. … Why do you think that it is better to stick the functions of dealing with children with disabilities in a huge department that will not have the same priority?” Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) asked after McMahon said she could see the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act going back to the Department of Health and Human Services.   

What is next after this order?  

Lawsuits, largely.  

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten's Thursday statement to the Trump administration regarding the order was only four words: "See you in court."

Many of Trump’s executive actions have already been taken to the courts, and advocates had said there were preparing to challenge this one.

Other actions by the Department of Education to reduce its size are already being fought in the legal system, including the decision to cancel millions of dollars in grants for teacher programs.

McMahon, in a “final mission” message to staffers sent shortly after she was confirmed, said the upcoming changes “will profoundly impact staff, budgets, and agency operations here at the Department.” 

The question may come down to: How many staffers can the administration fire before the agency is not able to fulfill its mandated responsibilities? 

“I think that the president also has the authority to hire and fire people within the confines of the budget. So, he can’t hire a whole bunch of people he doesn’t have money for, but I think he can fire people even if he has money to pay them. I think, conceptually, the limit is, if he fires so many people that he can’t do the jobs that Congress has given him, then he will have violated the Constitution,” Neal McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at the Cato Institute, previously told The Hill.  

Even before the official executive order was signed, advocates and Democratic lawmakers renounced the move.  

“And let’s not pretend for one single second we think he is serious about doing so while following the law — because the very premise of his plan — shuttering the Department of Education — fundamentally goes against the bipartisan laws we’ve passed establishing and funding it,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. 

It is likely next steps beyond lawsuits is civic action as groups will be encouraging voters to contact their lawmakers and advocate for the protection of the agency.  

“McMahon may be calling this their ‘final mission,’ but educators and families remain focused on our sole mission: teaching our students and ensuring every student has the opportunities and resources to learn and thrive. We will work together to protect our students, to protect public education and our communities,” said Becky Pringle, head of the National Education Association, the biggest teacher's union in the country.