‘Tremendous Change’: Trump Says ‘Won’t Be Long’ Until States Run Department of Education

President Donald Trump said it “won’t be long” until states are “really running” the Department of Education.

The Daily Signal asked Trump at his March 24 Cabinet meeting how red states can implement his Thursday executive order ordering Secretary Linda McMahon to start facilitating the closure of the Department of Education.

Trump said federal information on students will be sent to states.

“I think a lot of that information is going to be shipped to different states, like Iowa, like Indiana, like so many,” he told The Daily Signal. “They’re calling us, and they’re so anxious to get it, we’ll be shipping the records of the children that they’re taking care of, that they want to take care of, and the process will begin.”

Trump said America will see a “tremendous change very quickly, having to do with education.”

“And the process has already begun,” he said. “Very slowly begun.”

Teachers will be very well taken care of throughout the transition, according to the president.

“Union, non-union, that doesn’t matter,” he told The Daily Signal. “Teachers are so important to this country and to me, and we’re going to take great care of our teachers, and I know it’s very important to Linda.”

Trump reiterated that the Small Business Administration will take over the Department of Education’s student-loan program and the Department of Health and Human Services will take over special-needs programming.

“I think what’s going to happen is we are cleaning out a lot of things, like the loans, student loans, which we’re gonna handle very professionally by people who do that,” he said. “And then, as you know, RFK Jr. is going to do a fantastic job having to do with health and the other things, and frankly, better than the people at the Department of Education.”

Red state officials awaiting guidance on how to respond to the executive order dismantling the Department of Education say they are eager to centralize authority locally, The Daily Signal previously reported.

While Louisiana state Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley expects additional guidance from the Trump administration about how states should respond to the executive order, he thinks each state will manage education somewhat differently, based on what they prioritize.

“For me, education is a local enterprise when it’s best, and that’s why I think state leaders, along with local leaders, are very well-suited to make good decisions for their kids,” Brumley told The Daily Signal.

Kentucky and Florida have also not yet received guidance on implementing the executive order.

“As the Secretary of Education begins dismantling the U.S. Department of Education under the new executive order,” Sydney Booker, communications director for the Florida Department of Education, told The Daily Signal, “Florida will continue to do all the great work we’ve been doing, now unshackled from the morass of the USDOE.”