On the campaign trail in 2024, Donald Trump repeatedly pledged to close the Department of Education and return oversight of public schooling to the states.
Trump has a habit of throwing undercooked ideas around, but this wasn't one of them. Abolishing the Department of Education was part of the Republican Party's platform for the 2024 election, and was included in the goals of "Project 2025," the Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a conservative-controlled federal government in the wake of that election. That effort seemingly culminated with a March 2025 executive order signed by Trump that ordered Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps to close the department and return its functions to the states.
