WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump is expected to issue an executive order aimed at his long-held goal of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The order may come as soon as Thursday, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter whom it did not name. The White House and the department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Wednesday.
Trump has repeatedly called for eliminating the department, calling it a “big con job.” He proposed shuttering it in his first term as president, but Congress did not act.
His fellow Republicans have long sought to chip away at its funding and influence, and his education secretary, Linda McMahon, who was confirmed by the Senate on Monday, has defended Trump’s plan to abolish the agency.
The department’s defenders say it is crucial to keeping public education standards high and accuse Republicans of trying to push for-profit education. An immediate closure could disrupt tens of billions of dollars in aid to K-12 schools and tuition assistance for college students.
Trump said last month he wanted the department to be closed immediately but acknowledged he would need buy-ins from Congress, which determines its funding, and teachers’ unions.
McMahon told senators that unwinding the department would require congressional action and repeatedly promised the federal school funding appropriated by Congress to assist low-income school districts and students would continue.
Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have attempted to dismantle government programs and institutions such as the U.S. Agency for International Development without congressional approval, but abolishing the Department of Education would be his first shutdown of a cabinet-level agency.
The department oversees some 100,000 public and 34,000 private schools in the United States, although more than 85% of public school funding comes from state and local governments.
Instead, it provides federal grants for needy schools and programs, including money to pay teachers of children with special needs, fund arts programs and replace outdated infrastructure.
It also oversees the $1.6 trillion in student loans held by tens of millions of Americans who cannot afford to pay for university outright.
Under Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, Republicans particularly criticized the department over student loan forgiveness and policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Janaki Venugopalan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and William Mallard)
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