President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday calling on education secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday morning the order would greatly reduce the department’s size while keeping its essential functions operational. These operations include the awarding of federal student loans and Pell Grants, as well as the enforcement of civil rights laws and meeting the needs of students with disabilities.
“The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local facilities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely,” the order states.
In calling for the department’s elimination — which would require congressional approval, as it was established by law in 1979 — Trump accused the department of pushing “woke” ideologies. Trump and McMahon also expressed their goal to ensure states have more freedom in educational curriculum.
According to ABC News, the department oversees $1.6 trillion in federal student loans through various grant and loan programs.
An analysis by the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy showed the commonwealth receives more than $1 billion yearly in federal education funding. This includes funding for Kentucky’s public school systems and public postsecondary institutions.
“Cuts to this funding, or difficulty accessing it and other resources that the U.S. Department of Education now provides, could lead to the loss of teachers, the end of vital support for our most disadvantaged kids, diminished mental health supports and reduced student success and well-being,” the center wrote in a press release following the signing of the order.
Trump first floated the idea of eliminating the department during his 2024 presidential campaign.
“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, D.C.,” Trump said in a 2024 campaign video. “We’re going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states.”
The Herald reached out to WKU University Spokesperson Jace Lux and Director of Student Financial Assistance Bryson Davis for comment concerning the executive order, but has not yet received a response.
This new executive order comes amid an attack on DEI programs and higher education at both the federal and state levels.
Days into his second term, Trump ordered a freeze on all federal grant disbursement. The administration later clarified that Pell Grants would not be impacted.
In a March 4 post on his social media network, Truth Social, Trump wrote that federal funding for universities would be pulled for allowing “illegal protests,” threatening imprisonment or deportations for students who take part.
Last week, the Kentucky General Assembly passed House Bill 4, which seeks to eliminate all DEI offices and programs at the commonwealth’s public universities.
In front of the Faculty Senate last week, WKU Assistant Provost for Institutional Effectiveness & Engagement Molly Kerby said that the bill’s impacts would not be as harmful to the university as some thought, citing the bill’s preservation of academic freedom and First Amendment rights.
“It’s not near as bad as I think we had set ourselves up for,” Kerby told the Senate.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed HB 4 hours before Trump signed the executive order calling for the dismantling of the education department.
“This bill isn’t about love,” Beshear said in a video announcing his veto posted to his social media. “House Bill 4 is about hate.”
HB 4 now returns to the General Assembly for a possible override of Beshear’s veto during the last two days of the legislative session on March 27 and 28.
Editor-in-Chief Price Wilborn can be reached at edwin.wilborn835@topper.wku.edu. Follow him on X @pricewilborn.
