President Trump on Thursday instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin shutting down the agency, a task that cannot be completed without approval from Congress and sets the stage for a seismic political and legal battle over the role of the federal government in the nation’s schools.
Surrounded by school children seated at desks in the East Room of the White House, Mr. Trump signed a long-awaited executive order that he said would begin dismantling the department “once and for all.” The administration has cited poor test scores as a key justification for the move.
“We’re going to shut it down, and shut it down as quickly as possible,” Mr. Trump said.
The department, which manages federal loans for college, tracks student achievement and supports programs for students with disabilities, was created by an act of Congress. That means, according to Article 1 of the Constitution, only Congress can shut it down. That clear delineation of power — a fundamental component of democracy from the inception of the United States — underscores why no other modern president has tried to unilaterally shutter a federal department.
Mr. Trump, in remarks before signing the order, signaled he might press lawmakers on the issue, adding that he hoped Democrats would join Republicans in supporting the department’s elimination.
“I hope they’re going to be voting for it,” he said, “because ultimately it may come before them.”
But Mr. Trump has already taken significant steps that have limited the agency’s operations and authority. In his first 50 days in office, his administration slashed the department’s work force by more than half and eliminated $600 million in grants. The job cuts hit particularly hard at the Office for Civil Rights, which enforces the country’s guarantee that all students have an equal opportunity to an education.
Mr. Trump’s order contains potentially contradictory guidance for Ms. McMahon. On the one hand, the order directs her to facilitate the elimination of the agency. On the other, she is also mandated to rigorously comply with federal law. The order offers no guidance on how to square the two.
Mr. Trump said Thursday that the department would continue to provide critical functions, which are also required by law, such as administering federal student aid, including loans and grants, as well as funding for special education and districts with high levels of students living in poverty. The department would also continue civil rights enforcement, White House officials said.
Higher education leaders and advocacy groups immediately condemned the executive order.
“This is political theater, not serious public policy,” said Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, an association whose membership includes many colleges and universities. “To dismantle any cabinet-level federal agency requires congressional approval, and we urge lawmakers to reject misleading rhetoric in favor of what is in the best interests of students and their families.”
Attorneys for supporters of the Education Department anticipated they would challenge Mr. Trump’s order by arguing that the administration violated the separation of powers clause of the Constitution, as well as the clause requiring the president to take care that federal laws are faithfully executed.
These attorneys, who demanded anonymity to describe private deliberations about impending litigation, have also discussed the possibility of using a June 2024 ruling from the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to block Mr. Trump’s action. That ruling swept aside a long-established precedent by stipulating that there was little room for the executive branch to interpret the law when it came to the actions of federal agencies.
“See you in court,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the trade union for educators. Her group is among those that intend to sue.
Mr. Trump’s order also presents a predicament for Republicans in Congress, who must balance their eagerness to please Mr. Trump and the wishes of their constituents. Public opinion polls for the past two months have consistently shown nearly two-thirds of voters oppose closing the department.
Mr. Trump’s plans to defang the department, which he promised on the campaign trail, have drawn fierce criticism from Democrats and education advocacy groups who say that the measure — even if largely symbolic — signals the federal government’s retreat from its duties of protecting and serving the most vulnerable students.
“This is a dark day for the millions of American children who depend on federal funding for a quality education, including those in poor and rural communities with parents who voted for Trump,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the N.A.A.C.P.
Representative Bobby Scott, Democrat of Virginia and the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce, urged his Republican colleagues to join him in blocking the order from going into effect.
Mr. Trump, he said, was “implementing his own philosophy on education which can be summed up in his own words, ‘I love the poorly educated”’ Mr. Scott said in a statement, referring to a remark Mr. Trump made in 2016.
While local education departments already largely control how their schools are run, the department has been influential in setting academic standards, and interpreting civil rights laws.