Trump’s Education Order Could Have Been a Press Release
The executive order itself is meaningless, but the slow dismantling of federal education protections is already in motion.
This executive order, “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents,” sounds dramatic - just how Trump likes it. At first glance, it reads as if he’s single-handedly taking a wrecking ball to the U.S. Department of Education (ED) overnight. (And let me tell you: if he could, he would.)
If you’ve been following along with me, you already know that nothing in here is new or groundbreaking. These are the same conservative talking points we've been hearing since Reagan, dressed up as an executive order.
The Trump regime doesn’t need an executive order to rip apart the Department of Education. They’ve been doing it for months - gutting staff, protections, and funding while simultaneously discrediting the department’s core functions.
They’ve been putting out press releases and executive orders that weaponize civil rights language against actual civil rights movements, forcing the ED to waste resources on imaginary “reverse racism” cases and undermining its credibility as an enforcer of equal education rights. By making it seem like the department is overreaching or failing, they’re laying the groundwork to justify dismantling it completely.
At the end of the day, this order is one more piece of political theatre meant to distract from the slow death by a thousand paper cuts the Department has been enduring
Let’s go through it line by line.
“Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.”
Alright, Silly Goose in Chief, et al. The federal government doesn’t “control” education. It supplements state and local funding to prevent inequality.
If you’d like to discuss “failed experiments,” we can! Let’s get into school vouchers.
Oh, not like that? Okay.
“The Department of Education... has entrenched the education bureaucracy and sought to convince America that Federal control over education is beneficial…
While the Department of Education does not educate anyone, it maintains a public relations office that includes over 80 staffers at a cost of more than $10 million per year.”
This is a classic Trump move. He’s dismissively calling the U.S. Department of Education is a PR office while cherry-picking numbers to suggest wastefulness. And, of course, he is ignoring the actual functions of the Department of Education. The ED’s job is not to educate students directly. In fact, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) prohibits it.
The Department of Education:
Makes sure schools don’t discriminate against students based on race, gender, or disability.
Provides low-income students with extra support.
Protects the resources students with disabilities are legally entitled to.
“This money is largely distributed by one of the newest Cabinet agencies, the Department of Education, which has existed for less than one fifth of our Nation’s history.”
Oh! I guess we don’t need NASA (created in 1958) either.
The Department of Education was created because education needed federal oversight. Before its establishment, states were failing to protect students - particularly students of color, students with disabilities, and low-income students.
And his little side-eye about Jimmy Carter and the teachers’ unions? It’s tired, Donald. Play a new record, DJ. Every state and country with a high-performing education system has a strong teachers’ union.
“Closing the Department of Education would provide children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them.”
Unless you’re trapped in like, Oklahoma. Which ranks 49th and has a state superintendent who is more concerned about forcing teachers to teach from the Bible than he is about teaching reading and math.
Today, American reading and math scores are near historical lows. This year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 70 percent of 8th graders were below proficient in reading, and 72 percent were below proficient in math. The Federal education bureaucracy is not working.”
This lowkey kills me. They cite NAEP scores as proof that the ED has failed, conveniently ignoring the actual reasons for those declining scores (things like chronic underfunding and state-level policy failures.)
But here’s the real kicker:
The administration is firing every freakin’ person who works at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) except for one.
NCES is the agency responsible for NAEP.
So they’re gutting the agency that collects and analyzes education data while using that same data to argue the ED should be dismantled.
Additionally: if schools are underperforming, it’s because states control what is taught (or not taught) in their schools. States set their own curriculum, approve textbooks, and more.
“Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States.”
Translation: Let states discriminate however they want.
Because before federal oversight, states had full control over education - and that meant segregated schools, underfunded districts (especially in communities of color), and students with disabilities were denied an education altogether.
So when this executive order talks about ending the “FeDeRaL bUrEaUcRaTiC hOlD oN eDuCaTiOn,” what it really means is that red states want to receive federal money for education without any obligation to protect marginalized students.
“Closing the Department of Education and Returning Authority to the States:
The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
And there it is. The big, dramatic line they want you to focus on.
But, notice: this does not say, “Shutter the Department of Education tomorrow.” It says:
“To the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education”
Which means, in plain English: They can’t unilaterally close the U.S. Department of Education, and they know it. But ooh, they sure would like to!
You see, the Department of Education was created by Congress in 1979 (shout out to the Department of Education Organization Act). And because only Congress can eliminate it, this executive order cannot direct the Secretary of Education to shut it down. The Secretary cannot “facilitate” an action that is illegal.
So what does “to the maximum extent permitted by law” actually mean?
It means exactly what we saw happen with the recent “Reduction in Force” effort that laid off 1,300 U.S. Department of Education employees.
By shuttering 7 of 12 Offices for Civil Rights, they can technically claim they haven’t “shut down” the Department of Education’s ability to enforce civil rights laws. But in reality, the remaining five offices cannot possibly absorb the workload of the seven that were eliminated. This will lead to severe backlogs and indefinite delays.
This is not a directive to shut the ED down overnight (because they can’t). Instead, they’re gutting it from the inside, piece by piece.
Again, they’ve already been doing this. They didn’t need this showy executive order to make it happen.
This entire order is a press release on executive order letterhead, designed to make Trump’s Fox News fanbase believe he’s taking bold action on something he’s doing quite sneakily And at the same time, it’s meant to overwhelm and demoralize those of us fighting to protect public education.
So, what are they actually doing?
Let’s revisit that phrase “Ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
What they’re really talking about here is exploiting legal loopholes to hollow out the Department of Education. They’re basically dismantling its power and functions without needing Congress to formally eliminate it.
Ultimately, they want to defund or shutter every program that isn’t federally mandated while shuffling whatever is federally mandated out from under the Department of Education and into other agencies with weaker oversight.
We’ve already seen this playbook in action. The “Reduction in Force” this month gutted the Department’s ability to investigate civil rights violations by slashing regional Offices for Civil Rights. They didn’t technically “eliminate” them, but they made it nearly impossible for them to function.
The same thing is about to happen with how states receive federal education funding.
And we know this because Linda McMahon hinted at this exact strategy during her confirmation hearing. Let’s take a look:
Linda McMahon: Residents in the state of New Hampshire should not be concerned that federal funding is going to be removed from their schools. How they get that federal funding may change.
Pause: She’s talking about block grants here.
Right now, states receive categorical grants for education. This means federal funds are tied to specific programs with specific protections.
Block grants, on the other hand, are lump sums that states can spend however they want, with little to no federal oversight.
Do you see how slick they are with it? States will still “get their money,” but they won’t be required to give all students equitable access to education in order to receive it.
That’s the loophole.
Moving on.
Sen. Hassan: My time is limited. What department do you suggest would then administer that funding?…The special education funding.
McMahon: …I think it could very well go back to HHS, where it started.
Sen. Hassan: All right, so I just want to be clear: you're going to put special education in the hands of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
This is one way they could keep IDEA as they are federally mandated to do, while still dismantling the Department of Education. By shifting special education oversight to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), they’d be pulling IDEA out of the ED’s jurisdiction entirely.
Granted, it would take an act of Congress to move the oversight and funding of IDEA to HHS. It would also take an act of Congress to change the way states get their federal education funding.
But these are things on the minds of the GOP, and they are being alluded to in this executive order.
One of the most insidious (yet unsurprising) parts of this executive order is its continuation of attacks on DEIA programs. The GOP continues to use anti-discrimination language to justify dismantling protections for marginalized groups.
Here’s the key passage:
“The Secretary of Education shall ensure that the allocation of any Federal Department of Education funds is subject to rigorous compliance with Federal law and Administration policy, including the requirement that any program or activity receiving Federal assistance terminate illegal discrimination obscured under the label “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or similar terms and programs promoting gender ideology.”
Translation: They’re trying to frame equity and inclusion as discrimination.
This is not about protecting civil rights. They are using white supremacist and trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) talking points to make it harder for marginalized groups to fight back against actual discrimination.
But absolutely none of this is new.
This exact playbook has been used for over a century. Public education has never been popular with conservatives and, by extension, The Department of Education has taken a lot of hits.
Reagan tried to eliminate the Department of Education in the 1980s. He failed.
Newt Gingrich’s "Contract with America"was another attempt in the ‘90s. Also failed. Trump said he would abolish it in 2016. Didn’t do it.
And now Trump’s it again.
The fact is, it’s freakin’ hard to get rid of a ginormous cabinet-level department. Before the Reduction in Force of Questionable Legality, the ED was composed of 17 offices. Even when chopped in half, it’s hard to get rid of something that would require massive restructuring of federal infrastructure.
And, yes, bills to eliminate the Department of Education have been introduced by members of Congress. But they’re just sittin’ there on Capitol Hill at this point. They aren’t moving.
If it’s any comfort, over 19,000 pieces of legislation were introduced by the 118th Congress, yet just 4% of those even went to a vote.
The thing that annoys me about this whole executive order song and dance is that it is a distraction. We are not waiting for some overnight shutdown. No executive order will poof, make it disappear.
They want us to fixate on whether they can legally close the department, because that keeps us distracted. But the real attack on public education is already happening. And we have to pay attention. Otherwise, we won’t be able to defend public education against the subtle attacks. We’ll just be waiting for some other shoe to drop.
I get it - the media has made this executive order sound like a final blow to the U.S. Department of Education. But when you actually read it, it’s just the same conservative talking points that have failed for 40 years, repackaged to sound new.
It doesn’t close the ED.
It doesn’t even try to change federal law.
It doesn’t actually do anything.
Our fight is still the same as it was yesterday. And the fight continues tomorrow.
Even the executive order itself admits as much:
“Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect… the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof.”
It’s a press release, not a policy shift.
Typically, executive orders go into effect immediately unless they are backdated or they require significant bureaucratic maneuvering. But this one doesn’t have any directive. It’s a shiny object to keep us looking the other way while public education is being attacked from every angle.
The Trump administration has given us many examples of actionable executive orders that have teeth. Let’s look at a scary one now.
Remember “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling”? Unlike the Department of Education closure order we’ve been discussing, this one is outlining a full strategy for attacking public education and enforcing conservative ideology.
Section 3: The “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” Plan
Requires three cabinet-level departments (Education, Defense, HHS) to create a formal “Ending Indoctrination Strategy” within 90 days.
Directs agencies to identify and cut all federal funding linked to DEI, “gender ideology,” or any curriculum labeled as “discriminatory equity ideology.”
Mandates an audit of all federal funding sources that indirectly support these programs.
Requires agencies to provide a roadmap for stripping funds from teacher training programs that include DEI principles.
Section 4: Reestablishing the 1776 Commission & Enforcing “Patriotic Education”
Reinstates Trump’s 1776 Commission.
Directs the Department of Education to actively promote “patriotic education” (a euphemism for whitewashed history).
Sets up a funding pipeline to prioritize history and civics programs that align with the administration’s ideological goals.
Section 5: Federal Compliance & Prioritization of “Patriotic Education”
Orders all federal agencies to monitor compliance with federal law requiring Constitution Day programming and take action to enhance enforcement.
Directs the Department of Education, Defense, and State to prioritize funding for programs that align with conservative historical narratives.
Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
So here’s the deal: Whether you’re a teacher, someone who loves one, or someone who believes that education is a human right, as long you’re down to fight, you’re in the right place.
Follow along with me here and let’s stay locked in. We’re going to fight for public education together - no matter what Trump throws our way.
Thank you for reading my very first Substack article. If you’d like to see more, I am officially launching this thang Saturday March 22nd.
We have a lot to do, and I have a lot for you! There will be more breakdowns on education, policy, and whatever fresh nonsense this administration throws our way.
Feel free to subscribe, share, and just mentally prepare for the ride.
See you back here real soon!