An actual government department can only be eliminated through an act of Congress, but that doesn’t mean Trump and Musk can’t do irreparable damage

Parents, students, and teachers beware. President Donald Trump‘s scorched earth campaign against federal agencies could be headed to the Department of Education, via a proposed executive order that would dismantle the department. 

According to a draft obtained by The Wall Street Journal, the president was expected to instruct newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon — the wife of WWE Founder Vince McMahon — to shutter as much of the department as she can to the extent “permitted by law.” Sources told the Journal thay the president would sign the directive as soon as Thursday.

“The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support — has failed our children, our teachers, and our families,” the proposed order reads. 

Following the publication of the draft, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called reports that Trump planned to sign the order on Thursday “fake news.” Unnamed sources later told ABC News that the order had been pulled.

Regardless of the status of the order, the core functions of the Department of Education remain in the crosshairs of the Trump administration. In one of her first acts as Secretary of Education, McMahon sent an email to department staff this week informing them that the department would be embarking on a “final mission” to carry out an “effective transfer of educational oversight to the states.”

“In coming months, we will partner with Congress and other federal agencies to determine the best path forward to fulfill the expectations of the President and the American people,” McMahon added. 

Unlike Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is not an actual government department, the Department of Education was created by an act of Congress, and can only be dissolved by a 60-vote Senate majority. But as is becoming increasingly clear, the Trump administration and Musk couldn’t care less if their efforts to cripple or shutter major departments and agencies violate the law. While they may not be able to officially eliminate the Department of Education without the cooperation of Congress, they can gut the agency to the point of inanimacy. 

Earlier this week, DOGE offered employees at the Department of Education a one time “buyout” of $25,000 if they resigned or retired by Tuesday. Last month, DOGE oversawt saw millions in cuts to programs the department managed. Many of these programs had tangible benefits to low-income and disabled students. Musk claimed that his group had terminated “89 contracts worth $881 [million].” 

The Department of Education is the smallest Cabinet-level department in the United States, but it oversees critical functions of federal education policy including enforcing civil rights protections, distributing pell grants and other financial aid, as well as compiling data and research on the American education system. In his first weeks in office, Trump has leveraged the department’s Office For Civil Rights to target transgender students, and harass schools where students protested Israel’s brutality in their war against Gaza.