President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for an end to the Department of Education, but his plans to sign an executive order have not yet happened, and he said this week that he wants to "just do it."
"We’re starting the process," Trump said in the Oval Office this week, reports Politico on Friday. "We're trying to get the schools back into the states. Let the states run the schools.”
Media outlets cited a draft version of an executive order on Thursday, reporting that an announcement was to be made about him signing the order. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, though, called the reports "fake news."
An unnamed official told Politico that Trump was not expected to sign an order on the department this week.
The president, speaking with reporters in the Oval Office Friday, mentioned the Education Department but not an announcement to shutter it. Instead, he said he's signing an executive order later in the day to direct the department to modify the Public Service Loan forgiveness program, reports The New York Times.
The program forgives some student loan debt for people working in public sector jobs and nonprofit organizations. Trump claimed that some of the nonprofits "may engage in illegal, or what we would consider to be improper activities."
Meanwhile, Trump said this week that the federal government's $1.6 trillion portfolio for student loans may move under the Small Business Administration, which current Education Secretary Linda McMahon ran in Trump's first term. Moving the portfolio, however, requires action from Congress.
A White House official told Politico that Trump is "still committed to this campaign promise" to shutter the Education Department, "which shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. The American people elected him knowing this would be his intention."
Two key Republicans, however, said Thursday they have misgivings about eliminating the department, which was first opened in 1980.
"The Department of Education actually has some functions that we think are important," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said, adding that she supports it.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, acknowledged that there may be a case for spinning off some programs or downsizing the department, but said those are decisions McMahon should make.
"The decision of whether to abolish the department is one that only Congress can make," she said.
McMahon, appearing on Newsmax Friday, also did not give any indication when the department could close, but said she agrees with Trump that education decisions should be left up to the states.
"I'm not going to get ahead of the president," she said. "He'll be on his own timeline to do what he wants to do. But he made it crystal clear during his campaign that he does want to put education back to the states. I think there is a lot that the Department of Education can do to help get ready for that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.