A draft of a new executive that could be signed as early as Thursday aims to abolish the Department of Education, according to a report.
The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed the document, wrote Wednesday night Education Secretary Linda McMahon is instructed in the order to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”
"The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars—and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support—has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the document states.
The draft was labeled "pre-decisional" meaning it could change.
The order comes after McMahon told staffers late Monday she would "send education back to the states," though experts have said abolishing the agency would require 60 votes in the divided Senate.
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Ending the department would fulfill a 2023 pledge from Trump, who posted a video to social media saying, “One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states.”
"In total American society pours more than $1 trillion a year into public education systems, but instead of being at the top of the list, we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom," he said in the video.
The order also comes as Trump systematically dismantles the federal government and promises to dramatically shrink the federal budget. The Education Department’s spending totaled less than 3 percent of the $9.7 trillion spent by the federal government.