President Donald Trump signed his long-anticipated Department of Education executive order (EO) on Thursday, March 20. It doesn’t close the department – that requires an act of Congress – but it does direct Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States, while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
In other words, don’t break the law, but shut things down as much as possible without disrupting services and without the necessary congressional support. If this sounds like a tall order, that’s because it is. The department and much of its funding were established by Congress, meaning it’ll take the legislative branch to end it. So, is there…
