Donald Trump signed this Thursday, March 20, a decree aimed at removing the Ministry of Education. A decision perceived as “destructive” by the Democratic camp.
A new decree signed for Donald Trump. This Thursday, March 20, the American president entered a white house room, surrounded by schoolchildren of all ages sitting on desks, to sign a decree aimed at “eliminating” the Ministry of Education. Founded in 1979, the institution has a much more limited role in the United States than in France, this area already undergoing many local authorities. “We want to make education in the States, where it must be,” said Donald Trump. The leader said hoped that Linda McMahon is the final of Education. “It is useless. We will close it, close it as quickly as possible and once and for all,” insisted the president.
He also wishes to reduce public spending, believing that “ United States spend more on education than any other country “while being” near the list in terms of performance “, an argument denied by experts who defend that the United States is not so badly placed. To make such a closure, 60 votes out of 100 in favor of this decision in the Senate is necessary to obtain a long time decree by the Republican camp, which has 53 seats in the Senate. Already taken from the latter with the deletion of nearly 2,000 jobs.
President Trump Signs Executive Order to Elimate The Department of Education
“Closing the Department of Education WOULD Provide Children and Their Families The Opportunity to Escape A System That is Failing Them.” President Trump pic.twitter.com/aiyzs9tdc9
– The White House (@Whitehouse) March 2025
This decision is not unanimous, however, some denouncing a coup de force by Donald Trump. “He deliberately dismantles the basic functions of our democracy, a piece at a time (…) Only Congress can create or abolish an executive agency. This new decree is unconstitutional, but for Donald Trump, the rule of law does not seem to have any importance,” deplored on X The president of NAACP, organization of defense of civil rights, Derrick Johnson. A vision shared by Chuck Schumer, head of the minority in the Senate, who sees this decree as “one of the most destructive and devastating measures never taken by Donald Trump”, as he commented on Xcalling on the courts to act to “end the tyrannical takeover of Donald Trump”.
Worrying consequences for American students?
Opponents of this decree also fear the implementation of a “fundamentally uneven education system”. “This decision will only harm American children who depend on federal funding for quality education,” added Derrick Johnson. The ministry oversees around 100,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools in the country according to Reutersgranting federal subsidies to disadvantaged schools and supervising student loans.
Other elected democrats, but also teaching unions and parents of students accuse the president of carrying out an attack on public education. Hakeem Jeffries, head of the Democrat minority in the House of Representatives,, for his part, estimated with the Wall Street Journal that this closure would cause “a considerable increase in the workforce by class, teaching layoffs and an even greater increase in tuition fees”.