• President Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, but key programs will remain.
• The order faces legal challenges and criticism from Democrats and education advocates.
• Critics argue the order will create hardship and confusion for students and families while undermining public education.

The directive had been in the works for weeks.

President Donald Trump officially signed an executive order directing his administration to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education on Thursday afternoon, looking to achieve a critical campaign promise. But not wholesale.

Trump directed his education secretary, Linda McMahon, to take “all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States,” according to a White House summary.

But immediate impact remains unclear. The order calls for the department to simultaneously close and maintain an “uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”

Key federal programs for schools, all housed within the federal education department, cannot be eliminated from the department without Congress passing new laws to authorize it. Ahead of the order signing, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday the Education Department won’t be abolished under Trump’s order — but will be “much smaller than it is today.”

The federal government does not set school curriculum. That falls under the purview of states and local school districts.

Trump said Title I funding, or the program that boosts funding to schools serving high-poverty populations, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funding for schools serving students with disabilities, as well as Pell Grants and Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, will still be administered by the department under the order.

Trump has previously talked about the Small Business Administration or Commerce Department potentially taking over the distribution of student loan payments.

Under the order, education programs or activities that receive “any remaining Department of Education funds” will not be allowed to advance diversity, equity and inclusion or “gender ideology.” This echoes a top priority for Trump so far: eliminating federal initiatives that promote racial diversity and gender identity outside of two binary sexes.

Trump signed the new order flanked by more than a dozen students seated at school desks, at a ceremony in the White House’s East Room attended by several Republican governors and state education commissioners.

Preparing for the move, congressional Democrats blasted the president for making what they called a blatantly illegal order, USA TODAY reported.

Delaware’s governor just called it “bull—-.”

USA TODAY: President Trump signs order aimed at dismantling the Department of Education

Delaware reacts to gutting education department order

“Let’s cut the bull—-, not education. Schools are already underfunded, teachers underpaid and students underserved,” Gov. Matt Meyer said in a statement following the order Thursday afternoon. “As a former public school teacher, I know what’s at stake.”

Meyer said the president and any Republican governors standing with him “should be ashamed.” And he looked to stress his administration would “stand up, push back and demand every dollar our students deserve.”

Delaware’s largest educators union echoed the same, along with a warning that the state’s public school students will have to foot this bill.

“This is a dark day in our nation’s history,” said Stephanie Ingram, president of Delaware State Education Association. “Rather than fighting to strengthen our public schools and support our communities, billionaires Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Linda McMahon are working to dismantle public education, strip vital resources away from Delaware families and destroy programs that support vulnerable children here in the First State.”

Ingram shared fears that threatened federal funding could lead to ballooning class sizes, lessen support for lower-income students and those with disabilities. She said it isn’t about money at all — but about “starving public schools.”

His order sets up a new test for the bounds of presidential authority.

From firing over 50% of its staff to other slashing efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, many actions have met challenges, or roadblocks, in federal court. One head of a leading national teachers union already promised to sue the administration in the face of a total department dissolution.

Combining layoffs and other types of departures, the Trump administration has trimmed the department’s workforce from 4,133 to 2,183 workers since term’s start. The Office for Civil Rights has already been gutted by just under half its staff, alongside closing of the seven regional offices that investigate civil rights complaints from students and families.

Some advocates warned impact remains unclear, even after a flashy ceremony in the East Room.

“Let’s be clear: there’s no Executive Order the President can sign to legally eliminate the Department of Education,” said Aaron Ament, president of the National Student Legal Defense Network, to USA TODAY. “Linda McMahon acknowledged that herself. The real effect of this decree will just be even more hardship and confusion for students and families.”

This story was updated to add more information.

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