What is the Department of Education

President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that would shut down the US Department of Education – a long-cherished goal of conservatives.

The move would deliver on a promise he made on the campaign trail.

Trump plans to end some of the department’s programmes, while others would be housed within different parts of the government, according to US media reports.

The Republican president will direct his newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law”, according to a draft of the order seen by the Wall Street Journal.

Abolishing the department entirely requires an act of Congress, however.

Established in 1979, the Department of Education oversees funding for public schools, administers student loans and runs programmes that help low-income students.

Trump and his allies have accused the agency of “indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material”.

In December, he nominated former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) CEO and his transition co-chair, Linda McMahon, as his pick for education secretary. The Senate has yet to schedule confirmation proceedings for McMahon.

A common misconception is that the Department of Education operates US schools and sets curricula – that responsibility actually belongs to states and local districts.

The agency does oversee student loan programmes and administers Pell grants that help low-income students attend university.

It also helps fund programmes to support students with disabilities and for students living in poverty.

And the department enforces civil rights law designed to prevent race or sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools.

The department’s allocation was $238bn (£188bn) in fiscal year 2024 – less than 2% of the total federal budget.

The agency says it has about 4,400 employees, the smallest of any cabinet-level department.

Most public funding for US schools comes from state and local governments.

In 2024, the Education Data Initiative estimated that the US spends a total of just over $857bn on primary and secondary education – the equivalent of $17,280 per pupil.

On his own, no.

Not only would Trump need congressional approval to get rid of the department, but he would also probably need a supermajority in the US Senate – 60 out of 100 senators.

Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, so they would need at least seven Democrats to vote to abolish the agency – a political longshot.

Even in the House of Representatives, Trump would struggle to gain necessary support.

A vote last year to abolish the education department – which was attached as an amendment to another bill – failed to pass as 60 Republicans joined all Democrats in the House to vote no.

Trump has moved to shrink other government departments in recent weeks, despite questions about the legality of those moves.

An earlier draft of Trump’s order to dismantle the education department, obtained last month by the Washington Post, acknowledged that only Congress can get rid of the agency outright, but executive action could direct the agency to begin to wind itself down.

Education department employees are among those who are the focus of the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce.

The idea of eliminating the education department has been floated by Republicans for nearly as long as it has existed.

During Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, he pushed for it to be dismantled.

Republicans have historically pushed against centralising education policy, believing that it is best left up to individual states and localities.

More recently they have accused the education department of pushing what they describe as “woke” political ideology on to children, including on gender and race.

Trump’s allies also want to expand school choice, which would allow students and families to use public money to select private or religious alternatives to public schools.

Conservatives argue that other education department functions, such as administering loans, should be handled instead by the US Department of Treasury, and that civil rights infractions are the Department of Justice’s domain.