Trump to sign order Thursday dismantling Department of Education

President Trump is expected to sign an order on Thursday to launch the Department of Education's dismantling.

A White House official told NewsNation that the anticipated executive order, first reported by USA Today, will receive Trump's signature in the East Room after being postponed by the White House for a few weeks.

Last week, the Department of Education unveiled that it was firing nearly half its workforce. Trump also repeated his argument last week that getting rid of the department and moving education to the states would raise the U.S. school system's global ranking.

"The dream is we're going to move the Department of Education, we're going to move education into the states, so that the states, instead of bureaucrats working in Washington, so that the states can run education," Trump said. "We think when you move it back to Iowa and Indiana and all of the states that run so well … 30, maybe almost 40, those will be as good as Denmark, those will be as good as Norway."

USA Today reported that, per a summary from the White House of Trump's education order, Education Secretary Linda McMahon will be instructed by the president to undertake "all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States."

Throughout the first weeks of Trump's second term, his administration has made drastic moves to reshape the government, including mass layoffs and buyouts.

When asked about "the way Elon Musk and DOGE are dealing with workers employed by the federal government," 60 percent of respondents in a recent Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters said they were not supportive of it. Thirty-six percent said they were supportive of the way Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were dealing with federal workers.

“Over the past four years, Democrats have allowed millions of illegal minors into the country, straining school resources and diverting focus from American students. Coupled with the rise of anti-American CRT and DEI indoctrination, this is harming our most vulnerable. President Trump's executive order to expand educational opportunities will empower parents, states, and communities to take control and improve outcomes for all students,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement obtained by NewsNation.

Updated at 10:05 p.m.

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