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TRUMP ADVISERS WEIGH ACTIONS TO DISMANTLE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT –
REPORT
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Léonie Chao-Fong
February 3, 2025
The Guardian
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_ Officials are discussing executive order as part of efforts by
Musk’s Doge team to seize control of federal spending _
View image in fullscreen The Department of Education building in
Washington. , Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters
The Trump administration
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weighing executive actions to dismantle the US education department as
part of efforts by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government
efficiency” (Doge) to seize control of federal spending and slash
the size of the government workforce, the Wall Street Journal
reported.
US officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down
all functions of the education department that are not written
explicitly into statute, or move certain functions to other
departments, according to the paper,
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sources.
The order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish
the department, it said, adding that advisers to Donald Trump
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the specifics and timing of such an order.
Meanwhile, dozens of education department employees were told on
Friday that they had been put on leave immediately, Associated Press
reported
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with at least 55 workers losing access to their government email
accounts and told not to report to the office.
Emails sent to the employees said they were being put on paid
administrative leave pursuant to Trump’s executive order banning
diversity, equity and inclusion programs
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the federal government,
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to a labor union.
Before Trump took office in January, his transition team drafted an
order that would have directed the education secretary to proceed to
eliminate the department and call on Congress to approve such an
effort, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Trump’s pick for education secretary, former WWE executive Linda
McMahon, is still waiting to be confirmed by the Senate. Some
administration officials believe an executive order should wait until
McMahon’s Senate confirmation hearing, which has not yet been
scheduled.
During his election campaign, Trump promised to eliminate the
education department
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which he described as being infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and
Marxists” – and give states all power to control.
A US president alone cannot eliminate a department, as Congress is
required to approve the creation or demise of an agency.
But Trump officials can alter key parts of the department’s budget
and policies, or replicate the approach they used with the US agency
for international development (USAid) this past week.
In recent days,
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representatives at Doge have suspended senior USAid staff, shut down
its website, accessed sensitive personnel files and locked employees
out of the Washington DC office.
Workers for Doge, an unofficial government department with no
congressionally approved mandate, have also reportedly gained access
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the US treasury’s highly sensitive database and federal payments
system
A Doge team was working at the education department on Monday to
implement Trump’s executive orders and agenda, an education
department spokesperson confirmed.
_Léonie Chao-Fong is a news reporter and live blogger for Guardian
US, based in Washington. Twitter @leonie_chaofong
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* Department of Education
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* abolition
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* Elon Musk
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* Donald Trump
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