Can Trump dismantle Education Department with executive order?

US President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order to dismantle the Education Department, according to US media reports.

The order, which could be signed as soon as Thursday (Mar 6), would instruct the newly appointed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department as the administration seeks to shrink the federal government.

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According to a Wall Street Journal report, a draft of the executive order directs McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department” based on “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.”

Trump has expressed intentions of closing the department long before he assumed the office, as promised to decentralise education in the country during his campaign. He said that he would transfer the department’s power to the state government.

Can Trump dismantle Education Department?

The US Department of Education was established in 1979 under former president Jimmy Carter. As per US law, the department cannot be dismantled without Congress passing an act with 60 votes in favour in the Senate.

However, like several other federal agencies, Trump’s administration could dramatically cut the staff and programs in the Education Department.

Trump’s threat to shut down the department has sparked outrage from Democrats, teachers' unions and many parents, who view it as an attack on the public education system.

At a Senate education committee hearing last month, McMahon said that “the excessive consolidation of power” in the US was damaging education.

“So what's the remedy? Fund education freedom, not government,” she said.

According to The Washington Post, McMahon and other officials have suggested transfer of some of the department’s functions to other government agencies in an effort to dismantle it. Although this may lead to legal challenges.

(With inputs from agencies)