Trump Signs Executive Order to Eliminate Department of Education: “45 Years in the Making”; Pell Grants “Fully Preserved”

President Trump signed an executive order on March 20, 2025, to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education, calling it “a very historic action that was 45 years in the making.” Trump emphasized that core functions including Pell grants, Title I funding, and resources for children with disabilities would be “fully preserved” and redistributed to other agencies. “We’re going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs,” Trump said. “It’s a common-sense thing to do and it’s going to work.” He closed with a personal statement: “Teachers, to me, are among the most important people in this country — and we’re going to take care of our teachers."

"45 Years in the Making”

Trump opened the signing ceremony by placing the executive order in historical context.

“Today we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making,” Trump said. “In a few moments, I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all.”

The 45-year reference dated the ambition to 1980, when the Department of Education was created under President Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan had campaigned on abolishing the department before it was even fully operational, and every subsequent Republican administration had expressed some degree of skepticism about its existence. But no president had ever signed an executive order to begin the elimination process.

Trump had done what decades of Republican candidates had only promised. The executive order moved the conversation from rhetorical opposition to operational execution. The Department of Education was no longer an institution that Republicans complained about — it was an institution that was being dismantled.

”Back to the States Where It Belongs”

Trump articulated the philosophical foundation for the order with characteristic directness.

“We’re going to be returning education very simply back to the states where it belongs,” he said. “And this is a very popular thing to do, but much more importantly, it’s a common-sense thing to do and it’s going to work. Absolutely, it’s going to work.”

He cited his personal experience with state governors: “I can tell you from dealing with the governors and others in the state, they want it so badly. They want to take their children back and really teach their children individually.”

Trump made the economic argument as well: “Probably the costs will be half. And the education will be maybe many, many times better.”

The “costs will be half” prediction reflected the developer’s instinct that reducing bureaucratic overhead directly improved efficiency. The federal Department of Education did not teach a single child; it employed thousands of administrators who managed the process of distributing funding and enforcing regulations. Eliminating the middleman — sending education dollars directly to states rather than routing them through a federal bureaucracy — would, in theory, mean more of every dollar reached actual classrooms.

The governors’ enthusiasm was a critical political element. The executive order was not being imposed on unwilling states; it was fulfilling a request that many governors had been making for years. States that believed they could educate their children better than a distant federal bureaucracy would now have the opportunity to prove it.

Pell Grants, Title I, and Special Needs: “Fully Preserved”

Trump addressed the concern that had been central to every debate about eliminating the Department of Education: what would happen to the programs that millions of Americans depended on.

“But the department’s useful functions — and such as, and they’re in charge of them — Pell grants, Title I funding, resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be fully preserved,” Trump said.

He specified the mechanism: “They’re going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.”

Trump acknowledged the importance of the commitment: “And that’s very important to Linda, I know, and it’s very important to all of us.” The reference to Linda McMahon, who was overseeing the transition as the administration’s point person on education, signaled that the preservation of these programs was not a vague promise but a specific operational priority.

The “fully preserved” language was designed to neutralize the most effective attack against the executive order. Critics would inevitably argue that eliminating the Department of Education meant eliminating financial aid for college students, funding for low-income schools, and support for disabled children. By addressing all three programs specifically and committing to their full preservation, Trump preempted the argument. The department was being eliminated; its most important functions were not.

”Shut It Down as Quickly as Possible”

Beyond the preserved functions, Trump’s directive was unambiguous.

“Beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department,” he said. “We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good.”

He reiterated the state-level enthusiasm: “We want to return our students to the states where just some of the governors here are so happy about this. They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states, and they’re going to do a phenomenal job.”

The “doing us no good” assessment was blunt but supported by the data Karoline Leavitt had cited earlier: $3 trillion spent since the 1970s with only 28% of 8th graders proficient in math and 30% in reading. The department had not achieved its stated purpose of improving American education. By the most basic measure of institutional success — did the institution accomplish what it was created to do? — the Department of Education had failed.

”Teachers Are Among the Most Important People”

Trump closed with a personal statement that reframed the entire initiative.

“I want to just make one little personal statement,” he said. “Teachers, to me, are among the most important people in this country. And we’re going to take care of our teachers.”

He made the statement explicitly non-partisan: “And I don’t care if they’re in the union or not in the union. That doesn’t matter. But we’re going to take care of our teachers.”

Trump then outlined how state control could benefit teachers directly: “I believe the states will take actually better care of them than they are taking care of right now. They’ll work all sorts of systems and even merit systems. Those great teachers are going to be maybe a little bit better rewarded, or maybe that’s the way it should be. But the states are going to make that decision.”

The mention of “merit systems” was significant. Under the current system, teacher compensation was largely determined by seniority and credentials rather than effectiveness. By returning education to the states, some states would inevitably experiment with merit-based compensation — rewarding teachers who produced measurable improvements in student outcomes rather than simply those who had served the longest.

Trump wrapped the personal statement into the broader vision: “But we’re going to love and cherish our teachers along with our children, and they’re going to work with the parents, and they’re going to work with everybody else. And it’s going to be an amazing thing to watch, and it’s really going to be something special.”

The teacher statement served a dual purpose. It expressed genuine regard for educators, and it inoculated the administration against the inevitable charge that eliminating the Department of Education was anti-teacher. Trump was arguing the opposite: the department had failed teachers just as it had failed students, and returning education to the states would create opportunities for great teachers to be recognized and rewarded in ways that the federal bureaucracy never had.

Key Takeaways

• Trump signed an executive order to begin eliminating the Department of Education, calling it “a very historic action that was 45 years in the making.”
• Pell grants, Title I funding, and resources for children with disabilities will be “fully preserved” and redistributed to other agencies.
• Trump said state governors “want it so badly” and predicted costs would be cut in half while education quality improved “many, many times.”
• He made a personal statement: “Teachers are among the most important people in this country — we’re going to take care of our teachers” regardless of union status.
• States would implement “merit systems” where “great teachers are going to be maybe a little bit better rewarded.”