For months, during his campaign, Donald Trump threatened and sworn to reform, once re -elected, the American educational policy, in particular by removing the Department of Education. “I want the States to manage schools,” he said on Tuesday February 4 from the Oval Office, where he signed a new salvo of decrees in the afternoon.
According to several articles from the American press, including The Washington Post,, “This work is already underway”. If in the long term, Donald Trump seems to want to permanently close the Ministry of Education, in the short term, pending the green light from Congress in particular, he is already dismantling him. More specifically, depending on the site Politicoa decree that Donald Trump would be preparing to sign in the department to develop a plan to reduce his functions. This decree should also ask him to list a set of laws necessary to delegate his powers to other state agencies, with a view to closing. A White House official confirmed to Washington Post That Donald Trump “is preparing to take measures later this month which will respect the campaign commitment to dismantle the ministry”.
No deletion without the convention of the congress
Asked Tuesday on the way he intended to proceed, the American president replied that “it would be necessary to work with the teachers’ union, because it is the only one to oppose it”. But above all that he thought “to work with the congress”. And for good reason: without the latter’s agreement, the republican billionaire cannot abolish the Ministry of Education. However, according to the press, such an agreement is unlikely. Because legislation would require a majority of 60 votes in the Senate, which means that at least seven democrats should support the Donald Trump ministry plan, which many observers consider it inconceivable.
In the meantime, the dismantling would therefore have already started. “The new administration has already attempted to reduce the workforce by putting dozens of employees on administrative leave and by putting pressure on the staff so that it resigns voluntarily,” said The Washington Post. The daily also reports that the ministry is the subject of an evaluation of the commission for government efficiency, known as DOGE and piloted by Elon Musk, who has become a relative of Donald Trump, who announced the among others Closure of the American Agency for International Development (USAID).
Their objective: to reduce expenses and staff as well as to withdraw certain powers. In Donald Trump’s project for 2025, “the conservative plan for a second term of Trump”, it is for example mentioned that the student loan program is transferred to the Ministry of the Treasury and that the application of civil rights is transferred to the Ministry of Justice. But even this kind of actions would require a conference agreement, according to the Washington Post. “The 1979 law which created the ministry specifies that the organization must ‘include several of its main responsibilities, including a civil rights office and a primary and secondary education office,” reports the daily.
Too progressive ministry
If the former president and champion of conservatism Ronald Reagan could not honor his promise to abolish the ministry in the 1980s, “President Donald Trump will succeed,” wrote Tesla’s boss on his social network X. If Donald Trump wants to delete this ministry so much is because he accuses him of benefiting from too much funding. Schools are also too progressive according to him. Last week, the Republican signed decrees concerning burning subjects in education such as questions of ethnicity, gender or demonstrations on university campuses.
The president of the Syndicate of Teachers of Public Establishments (NEA), Becky Pringle, estimated on Monday on X that a removal of the ministry would affect “the most vulnerable”, like students with learning disabilities, would “explode the size classes “, or” would make higher education more expensive “.