Trump's call to dismantle Education Department shows Republican
rightward lurch and his grip on GOP
[March 21, 2025]
By MORIAH BALINGIT, CHRIS MEGERIAN and BILL BARROW
WASHINGTON (AP) — A little more than 23 years ago, Republican President
George W. Bush sat at a desk at a high school in Hamilton, Ohio, and
signed a law that would vastly expand the role of the Education
Department and transform American schooling. On Thursday, his Republican
successor, President Donald Trump, signed a very different document —
this one an executive order designed to dismantle the department.
For years, as right-wing activists called for eliminating the agency,
many Republicans paid lip service to the cause but still voted to fund
it. Now Trump, emboldened and unapologetic in his drastic remaking of
the federal government, has brushed aside concerns that deterred his
predecessors.
Thursday's announcement follows other aggressive decisions, including
the enlistment of billionaire Elon Musk to downsize the federal
bureaucracy at startling speed, or the review of scientific findings
that are foundational for fighting climate change.
Dismantling the Education Department was always high on Trump's list. He
talked about it repeatedly during his campaign, often to cheers from his
supporters, including the conservative group Moms for Liberty.
But despite telegraphing his goals, Trump's executive order was a
stunner, even for a president who thrives on audacity. Margaret
Spellings, education secretary under Bush, said she was indeed surprised
he was following through on his campaign vow.
For years, Spellings said, talk of about eliminating the department was
a way for Republicans to signal their adherence to party orthodoxy, even
as they voted to send billions of dollars to support its mission. Much
of that money ended up at schools in their own districts, funding extra
teachers for impoverished schools, for example. As recently as 2023, 60
House Republicans voted against a bill to close the department.
“It was always a little bit of a wink and a nod deal," Spellings said.
"Donald Trump has called the bluff.”
Trump, in remarks at the White House, said: “People have wanted to do
this for many, many years, for many, many decades. And I don’t know, no
president ever got around to doing it. But I’m getting around to doing
it.”
He held the executive order up for photos while standing next to
Education Secretary Linda McMahon. He's joked that he’ll need to find
another job for her once her department is gone.
The executive order is likely to get mired in legal challenges, and
members of Congress on both sides of the aisle said closing the
department can't move forward without their approval. But Trump, through
the Department of Government Efficiency, has already shrunk the
department's imprint, moving to eliminate about half of its staff.
The first talk of eliminating the department came just a year after its
formation from President Ronald Reagan, who opposed its efforts to
integrate schools. However, calls to get rid of the new department fell
out of favor by the end of Reagan's first term. By the time George W.
Bush became president, it was seen as a vehicle to implement his policy
vision of a federal government that required states to closely monitor
student progress, and hold schools accountable that fell short.
Calls to eliminate the department reemerged with the Tea Party, whose
adherents made it a symbol of bloated bureaucracy that usurped power
that belonged to local governments.
The most recent push to close the department emerged from the COVID-19
pandemic, when right-leaning parents, infuriated by what they saw as
unnecessary school closures, began arguing that the government was
indoctrinating their children.
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President Donald Trump gestures after signing executive order in the
East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20,
2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms for Liberty, was in the White
House audience and was recognized by Trump in his remarks. She said
the department allowed teacher unions to exert undue influence over
schools, a problem that became more apparent while schools were
closed and students were learning over Zoom.
“The American people woke up and recognized the fact there were a
lot of people that were making decisions that were not in the best
interest of their children,” she said.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who as a young lawmaker voted
for the 1979 bill to create the department, praised Trump’s move and
argued the agency has not accomplished its original mission.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Gingrich said of backing
Democratic President Jimmy Carter, his fellow Georgian, in a 215-201
vote.
Two generations later, Gingrich argued, “If you take what the scores
were then and how much we were spending on education then and
compare it now, it’s impossible to escape the reality that it’s been
an abject failure.”
For all the talk of overreach, federal law explicitly bars the
federal government from telling schools what to teach their
students. Day-to-day operations of schools are largely handled by
state and local authorities.
And while Trump has talked about eliminating the department, he
envisions a more muscular role for the federal government in
schools, moving swiftly and aggressively to punish schools that do
not fall in line with the administration's interpretation of civil
rights laws.
Early in his administration, he has already taken unprecedented
action to sever federal grants from the University of Pennsylvania
and from Columbia University over its handling of pro-Palestinian
protests.
The executive order to close the department also included language
to take federal funding away from schools that promote "diversity,
equity and inclusion," a term that has come to encompass everything
from highlighting the achievements of Black Americans to allowing
transgender athletes to compete.
Advocates and Democratic strategists have warned that Trump's
efforts could backfire with voters. According to recent polling, six
out of ten registered voters oppose the closure of the department.
Democratic pollster John Anzalone, who has worked for multiple
presidential campaigns, including Joe Biden’s 2020 victorious effort
over Trump, said the president’s moves are a base pleaser likely to
backfire for Republicans with the broader electorate.
First and foremost, he said, “education is generally popular with
voters” as a priority. Anything that allows Democrats to position
themselves as better reflective of those values, he said, works
against Trump.
The states whose schools are most reliant on federal dollars include
Mississippi, South Dakota, Montana, Alaska, Arkansas and North
Carolina — all of which backed Trump. Any disruption in federal
funding will hit them hardest.
Spellings said there's long been a bipartisan consensus that
“education is the route to the American dream, and it ought to be
afforded to everyone, and the federal role was to level the playing
field.”
“If that’s still true, we’re in the process of finding out.”
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Sharon Lurye and Linley Sanders contributed.
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