By Joe Light

President Donald Trump has the Education Department in his sights for a downsizing -- or even a demolition. The White House is preparing an executive order that would seek to shut down some functions and dissolve the department, according to The Wall Street Journal and other reports. Trump said this week that he wants his pick for Education Secretary, Linda McMahon, "to put herself out of a job."

That the Education Department is in Trump's sights shouldn't come as a surprise. Eliminating it has been a long-term Republican goal and one that Trump repeated on the campaign trail. Trump can't abolish it without congressional approval. But there's rising concern about potential disruptions in student loans and other functions.

"The President plans to fulfill a campaign promise by re-evaluating the future of the Department of Education," a White House official said in a statement to Barron's.

Trump and DOGE have so far shown scant restraint in attempting to revamp or dismantle other departments and agencies. The U.S. Agency for International Development has been thrown into turmoil by DOGE's efforts to fire thousands of its employees and freeze the agency's more than $40 billion in funding.

While Trump's efforts to freeze trillions in federal government assistance and grants didn't last long, it temporarily cut off states' access to Medicaid payments systems. The Office of Management and Budget rescinded a memo that had called for the freeze and a federal judge issued a restraining order on the effort while litigation proceeds.

Similar problems could be in store for the Education Department, though Trump seemed to acknowledge when speaking with reporters that his biggest goal -- eliminating it altogether -- will be hardest to achieve.

Congress created the Education Department and would likely need to pass a new law to eliminate it. That will be near-impossible in this Congress, since Republicans don't have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to overcome a Democratic filibuster.

DOGE officials have already sought to put some Education staff on leave, as they have at other agencies, as part of a wider plan to severely cut back the federal workforce.

Trump and other Republicans have argued that some Education Department functions, such as administering the $1.7 trillion federal student loan program, should move elsewhere. The Treasury Department could take on loan administration, for example.

Attempting such a transfer, especially if done in haste, could cause disruptions to the program, wrote BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Silber in a research note Wednesday. "There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty at most government agencies," Silber wrote.

DOGE or Trump likely could not unilaterally shrink the student loan program, which is authorized and funded by Congress. However, employees of other agencies and departments targeted by Trump have argued in public and in lawsuits that cutbacks will keep them from doing their job. With the Education Department, disruptions could impact grants for schools and research, and more than $120 billion in federal student aid, along with aid to of K-12 schools and programs.

Write to Joe Light at joe.light@barrons.com

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February 05, 2025 16:27 ET (21:27 GMT)

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