Today's Edition
WASHINGTON (dpa/AFP)
U.S. President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Thursday aimed at closing the Department of Education.
At a ceremony at the White House, Trump called the order the beginning of his effort to eliminate the department "once and for all."
Trump wants the department's functions to be turned over to the states. In a statement, the White House claimed that since 1979, the department has spent over $3 trillion - a per-pupil increase of more than 245% - with little to show for it. US students rank 28th out of 37 OECD member countries in math, the statement said.
The order instructs Education Secretary Linda McMahon, a former professional wrestling promoter, to take all necessary steps to minimise the department's functions.
The president, as the head of the executive branch, cannot legally close the department completely. That would have to be accomplished by the US Congress, which created the agency.
However, the department is slated to have only minimal functions such as awarding scholarships and certain financial aid, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt had previously stated.
Trump now said that corresponding programmes should be distributed to other authorities and that they would take "very good" care of them.
Just over a week ago, the government laid off almost half of the department's staff.
