President Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to eliminate the Department of Education, falsely claiming that it will improve student outcomes by returning the control of its main functions to states. LGBTQ+ advocacy groups denounced his order for the harm it will inflict on marginalized students. His order will likely face legal challenges and will need congressional support to enact officially.

His Thursday signing of the executive order was attended by a group of Republican governors as well as Tiffany Justice, founder of Moms for Liberty, a so-called “parents’ rights” group that has been designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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“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,” the president wrote in his order.

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“American reading and math scores are near historical lows,” he added, noting that the department manages over $1.6 trillion of student loan debt that, he believes, would be better managed by private companies rather than the federal government. Moving the student debt system from federally subsidized student loans to an entirely private lender system would result in higher interest rates and a larger overall debt amount from student borrowers, experts say.

The department primarily oversees the national student aid program and oversees civil rights enforcement to ensure equal access to schools and educational programs, especially for students with physical and intellectual disabilities. Under President Joe Biden, the department helped ensure that trans students retained the right to use names, pronouns, and school facilities matching their gender identities.

The department, which was established in 1979, has no control over curriculum or testing, which are controlled by states and local school districts. The department’s federal funding to public schools only makes up about 14% of public schools’ overall funding.

The president cannot officially eliminate the department without Congressional approval — something he hasn’t sought while issuing his other unconstitutional orders freezing federal funds and eradicating all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Nevertheless, his order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a pro-wrestling impresario with no background in education, to begin taking steps to close the department.

At the order’s signing ceremony, the president said the government will continue to provide the department’s “core necessities,” including funding for low-income schools, Pell grants for low-income students and money for children with disabilities. His order offers no other details about the plan to dismantle the department or which of its functions will be discontinued or handed off to other entities.

The president has already slashed half of the department’s workforce and made large funding cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gather data on national academic progress, the Associated Press reported.

The department’s elimination would fulfill a key goal of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the current presidency. Right-wingers have long sought to disassemble the public school system in order to redirect public funds to private for-profit schools under the banner of so-called “school choice” and voucher programs.

Officially eliminating the department will require Congressional approval. A 2023 Republican amendment to close the department failed when 60 Republicans joined Democrats in opposing it. A similar bill would likely fall short of the 60 bipartisan Senate votes needed to enact such a move.

LGBTQ+ organizational leaders speak out against the order

In a statement to Advocate, GLSEN Executive Director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers said, “In just a few days on the job, Secretary Linda McMahon has shown that she lacks the courage to fight for students and schools. Donald Trump’s selfish campaign to rob children of their future to pay for tax cuts for billionaires is cowardly…. He’s tried to scapegoat LGBTQ+ youth and the growing diversity of the next generation to enact a radical agenda that only benefits the few at the top.”

Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said, “This administration doesn’t care about supporting our students. Their claims of ‘returning control to the states’ are a brazen lie. From their pause on federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender student who has since graduated, to politically-motivated investigations like those into the Maine Department of Education and school districts across the country, this administration has made clear that they only care about enacting their Project 2025 agenda to dismantle our public schools and demolish the nation’s public education system.”

David Johns, the out gay executive director and CEO of the National Black Justice Collective, called the order “a direct attack on public education, democracy, and the civil rights of all students,” and “a calculated step in the agenda to dismantle public education, funnel taxpayer dollars into private school vouchers, and eliminate protections for Black students, LGBTQ+ students, students from low-income backgrounds, students in rural communities, and students with disabilities, leaving young people without the support needed to succeed.”

“To be clear, the goal remains changing the rules of the game via policy and subsequent practice to further enrich a small group of extremely wealthy, mostly white men, at the expense of everyone else,” he added. “We expect legal challenges to follow, and we urge Congress, state leaders, and education advocates to take immediate action to block this unconstitutional power grab. We call on parents, students, families, and concerned citizens to contact their elected leaders in both caucuses and at every level of government to demand the protection of crucial and earned civil rights and voice their opposition to dismantling the Department of Education. The future of public education—and the future of our children—is on the line.”

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