Despite widespread news reports that President Donald Trump would sign an executive order gutting the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday, the federal agency lived to see another afternoon.
An executive order, when and if it comes, would follow through on Trump's repeated threats on the campaign trail and in the Oval Office to shutter the department. The silence from his administration on Thursday left educators, consultants and other education experts on edge as they anticipated an order down the road.
"I almost feel like we got a stay of execution today," said Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, on a press call Thursday. "We've got to stay on our toes."
Indeed, the lack of activity on Thursday "doesn't mean it's not gonna happen," said Denise Forte, president and CEO of equity advocacy organization Ed Trust, on the call. "Let's be clear: This is their intention, that's what they've said."
Where does the department stand?
Trump has repeatedly threatened to sunset the department since his first White House term, citing what he has called the department's "bloated" budget and a need to return education control to the states.
This was a major selling point during his 2024 campaign and one of the first priorities for Linda McMahon, who was just confirmed and sworn in Monday as education secretary. In her first hours on the job, McMahon publicly said she was planning for the "historic overhaul" of the department as its "final mission."
"This review of our programs is long overdue," she wrote in a letter posted by the department that same night, supporting what she called "elimination of bureaucratic bloat here at the Department of Education — a momentous final mission — quickly and responsibly."
McMahon said "every staff member of this Department should be enthusiastic about any change that will benefit students." That same day, the Education Department staff faced an 11:59 p.m. ET deadline to voluntarily accept a $25,000 separation agreement — part of Trump's ongoing and quickly moving effort to downsize the federal workforce under the work of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.
The department refused to comment on how many workers accepted the offer, saying in an email to K-12 Dive that it "does not comment on specific personnel matters to protect privacy."
DOGE also sledgehammered nearly $900 million in Education Department contracts, many related to the agency's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences, which has historically been a nonpartisan informational resource for educators on everything from assessments to graduation rates.
In addition, the administration put Peggy Carr, an employee of the National Center for Education Statistics for over three decades and the leading voice on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, on leave in late February.
How likely is it that the department will shut down?
Although the specter of an executive order looms large, it is not possible for the administration to act unilaterally to shutter the department for good. Doing so would require a supermajority in the Senate of 60 votes.
And while Trump's push to dismantle the department is in line with the 2024 Republican agenda — which included closing the department to "let the States run our educational system as it should be run" — some Republicans have historically resisted demolishing the department.
In 2023, a House proposal from conservatives to shut down the department failed when 60 House Republicans joined Democrats to defeat the measure.
And although the Republicans hold the majority in the current Congress, many have considered it unlikely that lawmakers would approve the department's demise given how slim that majority is.
What can the president do?
Yet it is possible for the president to starve the department — and some of its programs — of resources such as funding and staff, according to legal and education experts.
The administration could indeed take steps to make it bare-bones, said Julia Martin, director of policy and government affairs at The Bruman Group, a legal and consulting group based in Washington, D.C. Martin formerly served as an education policy advisor for the House Committee on Education and Labor.
According to Martin, the administration could trim staff significantly, cut contracts so work is done in house, limit data collection and oversight, reduce the number of compliance investigations including those under the Office for Civil Rights, and shut down some nonstatutory functions like the College Scorecard — all without permission from Congress. Some offices could also be combined, Martin said.
What do educators think?
Meanwhile, education leaders banded together on Thursday to call on Congress to reject any measure that would dismantle the department. They further raised alarm bells that starving the department of funds would negatively impact both districts and students.
"Gutting the Education Department will send class sizes soaring, cut job training programs, make higher education more expensive and out of reach for middle class families, take away special education services for students with disabilities, and gut student civil rights protections," said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, in a Thursday statement in anticipation of an executive order.
Alex Marrero, superintendent of Denver Public Schools, worried about what a lack of federal funding would mean for Colorado's biggest district — and said he's already begun to work with state officials to shield his district from a cut in dollars.
"It just doesn't benefit the educational system," said Marrero. "All you're going to see is more regression, so I just don't see the win in it."
Some Democratic lawmakers likewise resisted the idea of shutting the department.
"It does not take a former teacher to tell you how obliterating the Department of Education hurts students," said Sen.Patty Murray, D-Wash., former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and a former teacher. "I think even a preschooler could tell you this is a terrible, terrible idea.”
