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Rabat — In a signing ceremony that took place in the Oval Office on Wednesday, March 19, attended — ironically — by school children as well as Republican governors, US president Donald Trump moved on to fulfill his campaign promise of abolishing the Department of Education (DOE), reiterating his stance that federal involvement in education has overreached its intended role.
“For decades, Washington has controlled what our children learn, and that ends today,” Said Trump. “This move puts decision-making back into the hands of parents, teachers, and local leaders who know what’s best for their communities.”
Trump described his executive order as a “historic action that was 45 years in the making,” in a reference to his party’s long struggle against this department since its creation in 1979.
Just a year later, Ronald Reagan called for the total elimination of the education department during his presidential campaign, claiming that he can achieve “major savings” in doing this. His efforts to dismantle the department soon died out but kept resurfacing multiple times in Republican platforms, including in Trump’s 2016 and 2024 runs.
Trump has made these orders a cornerstone for his agenda: during his first term, his administration rolled back several education policies and reduced funding for programs deemed excessive. During his second campaign, he escalated to promising to abolish the department entirely, sparking both favor and fury.
Despite Trump’s plan on making the Republican dream of dismantling federal education in the US come true, his executive order does not have the power to eliminate the department completely.
Since the agency was established by Congress, only it has the legislative power to abolish DOE, which is unlikely to happen given opposition from Democrats and moderate Republicans.
Educators expressed concern that the order would affect class sizes and take away resources from 50 million public school students and college students throughout the county.
Multiple officials also showed their disagreement and promised legal actions to combat it. California Governor Gavin Newsom, described Trump’s plan as an “overreach” and called for the upholding of checks and balances.
“This overreach needs to be rejected immediately by a co-equal branch of government. Or was congress eliminated by this executive order, too?” Newsom recently remarked.
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy described the order as “dumb,” explaining that she believes that the US government “should be doing everything we can to make America more competitive, continue to invest in education.”
However, laws and opposition seem to have proven futile with Trump, as he has already begun taking actions to shrink the department’s influence. Education secretary Linda Mchamon has been directed to sketch out a roadmap for Trump’s plan through phasing out federal grants and shifting key responsibilities to state governments.
