Trump to Sign Order Handing Power Back to States, Families in Education

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Fox News interview today that President Donald Trump “is not failing America’s children” but rather “saving America’s children” by abolishing the Department of Education. 

Trump plans to sign, at a White House ceremony scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, an executive order that will dismantle the Education Department, fulfilling a yearslong campaign promise. The order will instruct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to close the department and return education authority to the states. 

Leavitt said in the interview that parents, educators, and governors will be excited to take on the responsibility of educating America’s children, adding that “the Department of Education has never educated a child.” 

The department, created in 1979 under former President Jimmy Carter, has cost American taxpayers over $3 trillion since its inception. 

“What have we had as a result of that investment in our children’s education? Declining test scores in reading, writing, and math,” Leavitt stated. “Proficiency levels at record lows for eighth graders and fourth graders at every level.” 

When asked what will happen to teachers unions, Leavitt replied, “I think the American people saw that the teachers unions unfortunately have not been standing up for America’s students.”  

Teachers “deserve great guidance” from “those closest to them in their states,” she said. 

Lawmakers argue that dismantling the Education Department will carry legal ramifications, and the executive order will be challenged in court. Federal agencies are customarily abolished through an act of Congress. 

Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said in a statement, “Legality aside, dismantling [the Department of Education] will exacerbate existing disparities; reduce accountability; and put low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, rural students, and English as a Second Language students at risk.” 

Democrat attorneys general in Washington, D.C., and 20 states sued last Thursday over the Trump administration’s attempt to fire nearly half of the Department of Education’s workforce, according to a report by The Hill.