Trump vows to 'immediately' shutter Department of Education if he wins election

During former President Donald Trump's speech to supporters in South Carolina on Monday, he pledged to follow through on a longstanding promise of far-right educational activists: eliminate the U.S. Department of Education.

"I will immediately close the Federal Department of Education and we will move everything back to the states where they can individualize education and do it with love for our children," Trump said to great applause.

He immediately proceeded to turn to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and ask him, wouldn't it be great if he could control education in his state, and then entered into a lengthy pledge to restrict transgender rights, adding that Democrats "mutilize" children.

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Education is already a mandate primarily at the state and local level. Schools receive more than 80 percent of their funding at a sub-federal level, and states and local districts also set most of the local curriculum rules.

The Department of Education's more important function comes in enforcing the civil rights of students, making sure that children aren't being denied an equal education due to race, sex, or disability.

Eliminating the agency altogether has been a desire of some Republican activists for a while. The idea has been pushed in particular by Trump's own former Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, who most recently advocated for it at a summit of the extremist group Moms for Liberty.