“We're going to end education coming out of Washington, D.C. We're going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We're going to send it all back to the states,”
President Donald Trump has continued to pursue his campaign promise to abolish the U.S. Education Department. Despite the department continuing to shrink, it hasn't disappeared entirely.
At the beginning of Trump's second term in January, the department had about 4,100 employees. In March, the Trump administration cut that roughly in half through layoffs and early retirement offers. Some of those layoffs were slowed or paused because of court cases. In one major decision, the Supreme Court allowed the administration to go forward with laying off nearly 1,400 workers.
But even amid the cuts, the department brought back some staffers to help work through a backlog of civil rights complaints.
On Nov. 18, the Education Department signed six new agreements with other federal agencies -– including the departments of Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and State — to take over some program responsibilities.
The department said these agreements were meant to "break up the federal education bureaucracy" and make some services run more efficiently by putting parts of them under agencies with relevant expertise.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the partnerships are part of the administration's plan to "return education to the states" by cutting red tape in Washington. That language echoes Trump's long-standing goal of reducing the department.
Despite the staff shrinkage and outsourcing, these changes haven't closed the department outright, and it's not yet clear how much work or staff will move to the other agencies. The Education Department says it will still keep overall policy responsibility and oversight, even as other departments assume some tasks.
The Education Department still runs many big federal programs, including student financial aid and civil rights enforcement, and it continues to issue rules and decisions on matters like loan repayment plans and grant awards. It also still employs thousands of people who make those programs work.
So while the Supreme Court's decision to allow mass layoffs represented a significant development in the administration's efforts to shrink the agency, the department's closure is — for now — partial, and only Congress can legally abolish the department.
For now, this promise remains In the Works.
President Donald Trump edged closer to fulfilling his promise of eliminating the U.S. Education Department after a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for mass department firings.
The court on July 14 lifted a federal court's injunction halting the Trump administration's efforts to lay off nearly 1,400 Education Department employees. The agency, which enforces laws related to special education and low-income students and oversees federal student loans, employed more than 4,000 people when Trump took office in January.
Congress created the Education Department in 1979 and congressional action is required to officially shut it down. Trump in March signed an executive order directing U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the (department's) closure."
The department offered employees buyouts and early retirement. McMahon ordered a reduction in force, laying off the nearly 1,400 employees.
In May, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun issued an injunction blocking the administration's actions on grounds it had effectively crippled the agency from carrying out its constitutionally mandated duties.
"The record abundantly reveals that Defendants' true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute," Joun wrote. He ordered the Trump administration to reinstate fired employees while the lawsuit was pending.
The Supreme Court's apparent 6-3 decision lifting the Boston judge's injunction gave Trump permission to resume his administration's downsizing efforts.
Trump described the decision on Truth Social as "a Major Victory."
"Now, with this GREAT Supreme Court Decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process," Trump's post said.
The conservative majority did not provide reasoning for its unsigned decision, which it issued after reviewing the case as part of its emergency docket — expedited cases before the court.
The ruling is not a final decision as the litigation proceeds through the lower courts.
Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a 19-page dissent that was joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. "Only Congress has the power to abolish the Department," it said, arguing that the Trump administration was acting in a manner contrary to the law: "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary's duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it."
Trump's promise to eliminate the Education Department stems from his 2016 presidential campaign. But his first-term efforts to cut funding didn't garner congressional support. In his 2024 bid, he promised again "to end education coming out of Washington, D.C. We're going to close it up — all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We're going to send it all back to the states."
Frederick M. Hess, an education policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said the court's action enables Trump to "radically downsize (the Education Department's) staffing and operations."
"There's certainly cause to believe these steep cuts will have an impact on operational activities," he said.
Although congressional action is still required to formally shutter the Education Department, Trump is able to proceed with initiatives to shrink the agency.
We rate his promise In the Works.
President Donald Trump signed an order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education with the goal of its eventual closure.
Trump's vision requires an act from Congress, which created the department in 1979.
Trump's March 20 order states: "The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely."
It didn't provide details about how to disassemble and close the agency, though Trump rolled out more specifics at a briefing the next day.
Trump said March 21 that student loan oversight will move to the U.S. Small Business Administration, and programs related to disabilities will move to the Health and Human Services Department.
Closing the Education Department has been Trump's goal since his 2016 presidential campaign. In his 2024 bid, he promised "to end education coming out of Washington, D.C. We're going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and people that in many cases hate our children. We're going to send it all back to the states."
Public schools, with some exceptions, already receive the majority of their funding from local and state governments. The federal department provides about 10% of K-12 school funding.
Trump acknowledged Congress' power in his March 20 remarks, saying "the Democrats know it's right, and I hope they're going to be voting for it."
But it's not a done deal among Republicans, either. Efforts to close the department failed in 2023 and 2024, and a 2025 resolution proposed by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., calling for its Dec. 31, 2026, termination, has 32 cosponsors, all Republicans.
Public opinion polls show why Congress might be reluctant to act against most voters' wishes:
A March Economist/YouGov poll found 30% of respondents thought the Education Department should be reduced or eliminated; the majority wanted it expanded or kept the same.
Quinnipiac University's February poll found 60% of voters opposed eliminating the department.
A fall 2024 national poll done for All4Ed, a nonprofit advocacy organization, found that 58% of voters did not want the Education Department to close.
The promise is one of 75 Trump made in his 2024 campaign that PolitiFact is tracking on the MAGA-Meter. Over the next four years, we will periodically evaluate the new administration's progress on Trump's 2024 campaign promises, just as we did with Barack Obama, Trump during his first term and Joe Biden.
Education experts said the Education Department order lacked details, raising questions about future services for students and public schools.
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So far, the Trump administration has weakened the department without shuttering it.
The Trump administration fired more than 1,300 employees in early March, and hundreds took buyouts. Combined, those measures reduced the workforce by about 50%. A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general sued the administration challenging the employee cuts.
The administration in February cut more than 200 Education Department contracts and grants, Chalkbeat reported.
The mass layoffs could cause huge disruptions to remaining services, despite Trump's order saying funding or services would not be disrupted, said Josh Cowen, Michigan State University professor and senior fellow at the Education Law Center, a nonprofit focused on equity for public school students.
"It's difficult to see how that promise will be kept given both the slashing of the department's staff and the track record at other agencies," Cowen said.
The department enforces laws that affect funding for special education and low-income students and oversees the federal student loan program.
"The department is basically a mega bank with a small policy shop attached," said Frederick M. Hess, an expert on education policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
Republicans want to take the pots of money the department spends on poor students, special education and school lunch (overseen by the Agriculture Department) and give them directly to states or school districts, with no federal education strings attached.
Many of the states that have the highest proportion of Title I funding are Republican-led, including Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, home of House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Michael J. Petrilli, a Trump critic and president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said Trump's move "was a big nothing burger."
"Congress sent most of the power back to the states 10 years ago when it enacted the Every Student Succeeds Act, repealing No Child Left Behind," he said. "Today's 'actions' will have little impact, for good or ill, on America's schools."
At PolitiFact, we rate campaign promises based on developments and outcomes, not intentions.
Trump acknowledged that he can't shutter the department on his own, and in the past only a minority of Congress members have shown interest in closing it.
Meanwhile, Trump has significantly cut the department's employment and grants in his administration's first quarter. But significant hurdles remain to permanently close it.
For now, we rate this promise In the Works.
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