Trump has a constitutional obligation to eliminate the Department of Education
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order that could eliminate or roll back significant parts of the Department of Education, a move that has already received significant criticism from Trump’s political opponents.
If issued, the order would come on the heels of Trump’s controversial decision to dismantle much of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is now under the direct authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Democrats have alleged that Trump’s plans to close or significantly scale back some federal agencies, including the Department of Education. Congress, they argue, created the department, and therfore an act of Congress would be needed to close it.
But even without congressional action, Trump does have the legal authority to shutter most of the department’s staff and programs. Rather than wait for approval from Congress — which will likely never come — Trump should simply end most of the Department of Education’s work now and let federal courts work out the constitutionality of the decision.
Ordinarily, the president does not have the authority to close parts of the federal government that have been established by Congress. But in the case of the Department of Education, Trump has every right to act, because Congress had no authority in the first place to empower the department with most of its current programs.
Trump took an oath to faithfully abide by the Constitution, and the Constitution nowhere gives Congress the right to involve itself in most of what occurs at the state and local levels regarding education. Thus, gutting the Department of Education of much of its programming cannot be unconstitutional, because many of the programs are themselves unconstitutional. In fact, if Trump believes the department’s activities are in violation of the Constitution, then he is obligated to shut them down.
The argument against the constitutionality of the Department of Education is remarkably simple. Article I clearly outlines the enumerated powers of Congress. State and local education programs are not mentioned as one of its responsibilities. Article II outlines the power of the nation’s executive office. It does not mention state or local education programs either.
Making matters even clearer, the 10th Amendment plainly states that “powers not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people.” Since powers related to education are not given to the federal government under Articles I or II, they are “reserved to the states or the people.”
For most of American history, the Department of Education did not exist. Virtually everyone agreed that the federal government had no business involving itself in education. However, opinions changed in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which determined that school segregation was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.
Among other things, the 14th Amendment prevents states and local governments from passing laws that treat people unequally or unjustly limit people’s liberties, including the right to due process. Since segregation violated students’ constitutional rights, the federal government had the power and responsibility to stop it.
Federal involvement in education grew dramatically in the wake of Brown. Congress passed a law in 1979 making the Department of Education a cabinet-level agency under the Carter administration. Over the years, funding for the Department of Education has grown rapidly, and the agency has become increasingly influential in local and higher education.
In fiscal year 2025, the total Department of Education budget is $103 billion, which includes spending for programs at both the K-12 and college levels. About 14 percent of K-12 education funding comes from the federal government.
Although most education dollars still come from state and local governments, the infusion of federal dollars has given Congress and the Department of Education the ability to impose a long list of federal guidelines and priorities on school districts and higher education. These requirements include education and teacher standards and testing.
Regardless of whether you support such programs, the Constitution does not allow for the vast majority of what the Education Department does today. The department of course has authority to ensure that state and local governments are protecting the rights of citizens and treating students equally under the law. Segregation policies like those struck down by the Supreme Court in Brown should never be tolerated, and the federal government has the constitutional power to stop them.
But the vast majority of the department’s current programs have nothing to do with equal access under the law or other rights protected by the 14th Amendment. Trump should not only stop these programs — he has a constitutional duty to do so.
Trump does not need to wait for Congress. He has the authority to close most of the Education Department now, excluding those offices and programs created to protect 14th Amendment rights. Failure to close most of the department would not only allow the federal government to continue its interference in local and state education, it would also be violation of the presidential oath of office.
Justin Haskins is a senior fellow at the Heartland Institute and the president of the Henry Dearborn Liberty Network.
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