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President Trump held a signing ceremony at the White House Thursday where he unveiled an executive order calling for the abolishment of the U.S. Department of Education. The order says:
The Secretary of Education shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.
The issuance of the order comes on the heels of a massive reduction in force at the department. However, it would take an act of Congress to fully close the department, an uncertain proposition given the need to overcome an inevitable filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
It would also take action by Congress to move federal education programs like Title I to another federal agency or to block grant them to the states, as has been contemplated. Those programs are expected to continue functioning as normal unless Congress makes changes to them.
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