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Donald Trump has signed an executive order that begins the process of eliminating the US Department of Education. This was one of his campaign promises.

The executive order, “Improving Educational Achievements by Empowering Parents, States, and Local Communities,” was signed at a ceremony at the White House, where governors, state education officials, and schoolchildren were invited.

An entire classroom was built in the Oval Office, with a separate desk for Trump.

“We’re going to shut it down as soon as possible,” the US president said. “It’s not doing us any good.”
Trump, like most Republicans, has long called for the department to be closed, but its complete elimination would require congressional approval, which is unlikely, BBC correspondents in Washington note.

According to Trump, the US spends more money on education than any other country in the world, while American schoolchildren “are at the bottom of the academic performance list.”

“While the Department of Education does not educate anyone, it maintains a public affairs office with more than 80 employees, which costs it more than $10 million a year,” the order reads. “Closing the Department of Education will give children and their families an opportunity to break free from a system that is failing them. […] The federal bureaucracy in education is broken.”

At a White House ceremony, Trump praised Education Secretary Linda McMahon, whom he had previously appointed to lead the agency, and expressed hope that she would be the last secretary of education. Trump also promised to find her another job in the administration.

McMahon announced that she would cut the department’s staff by half after taking office in early March.

Even if the agency is not officially closed, the Trump administration could cut its funding and staff, as it did with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The order signed Thursday does not include specific measures.

It directs Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the shutdown” and devolve authority to local governments “while ensuring the efficient and uninterrupted delivery of the services, programs, and benefits Americans rely on.”