Trump holds an executive order after signing it in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 20, 2025. (Mandel Ngan)
"Class sizes will soar, educators will be fired, special education programs will be cut and college will get even more expensive, at a time when the cost of living is already too high," Jeffries said.
"Donald Trump and House Republicans are crashing the economy in real time. They believe that giving massive tax breaks to billionaires is more important than supporting our public school children. Congress created the Department of Education and only an act of Congress can eliminate it. We will stop this malignant Republican scheme in the House of Representatives and in the Courts," he continued.
"The courts must act to uphold the rule of law and stop Donald Trump’s tyrannical power grab."
Trump signed the order on Thursday after previewing his plan to do so for months. His choice to lead the department, Linda McMahon, was only confirmed by the Senate a couple of weeks prior and is completely on board with the effort, as signaled by her attendance at the signing event.
"Donald Trump is betraying our kids and families," said House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass. "Republicans promised to make working families’ lives easier and more secure. Now, they’re taking a chainsaw to our local schools — all to fund tax cuts and corrupt contracts for their billionaire donors. Let’s be clear: Trump and the GOP are unilaterally firing teachers, abandoning students, gutting special education, and forcing parents into a panic just as they’re dragging us into a recession."
DEM SENATOR ON SCHUMER FUTURE: 'IMPORTANT' TO KNOW 'WHEN IT'S TIME TO GO'
Linda McMahon was confirmed to be secretary of education. (Getty Images/Reuters/Fox News Digital)
House Education and Workforce Committee Chair Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said in his own statement, "The key to improving education is empowering parents and students and reducing the role of Washington bureaucrats. Over the last four years, the nation has seen the results of empowering the Department of Education. The Biden-Harris administration discouraged the reopening of schools, encouraged the adoption of discriminatory and divisive curriculum, oversaw the collapse of student performance across the country, repeatedly pushed the student loan obligations of the wealthy onto middle class taxpayers, and pushed a radical gender ideology that has been repeatedly slapped down by courts as unconstitutional."
"We now have a secretary of education, Linda McMahon, who understands the importance of getting the federal government out of the way. And I look forward to working alongside her to get the federal government off the backs of students, families, educators, and taxpayers," he added.
Trump signed the order on Thursday. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File)
"Bottom line, the Department of Education has failed to deliver results for America’s students and today’s actions by the Trump administration will help ensure our nation’s youth are put first."
During the signing ceremony on Thursday, Trump explained that "the department's useful functions such as … Pell grants, title one funding resources for children with disabilities and special needs will be preserved, fully preserved."
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"They're going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them," he said.
"But beyond these core necessities, my administration will take all lawful steps to shut down the Department," Trump announced.
The move to dismantle the education department comes amid the Elon Musk-helmed Department of Government Efficiency's aggressive overhaul to slash the federal bureaucracy.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia's reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/educators-fired-republicans-cheer-trump-order-dismantling-education-department-dems-seethe