U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education.
President Trump said: “My administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the department. We’re going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It’s doing us no good. We want to return our students to the states.”
According to reports from the U.S. capital, the department cannot be fully shut down without an act of Congress, but Trump’s order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to shutter regional offices, transfer out some of its key functions and further slash the department’s workforce, which has already been cut in half since Trump took office.
The fate of public education funding, labor, civil rights protections and financial aid for students now hangs in the balance.
Protests are planned over the weekend in Washington, D.C. and across the United States.
