In response to Donald Trump signing an executive order to shut down the Department of Education, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Today, Donald Trump and the corrupt billionaire he installed as Education Secretary told 50 million public school students across America that he doesn’t give a damn about them. We should be investing in kids instead of billionaires. If you’re a public school student, a working family, or a parent whose child is on an IEP, Trump is directly attacking you. And from Appalachia to the rural South, his own voters will suffer.” 

NEW: Today, Donald Trump fulfilled another core threat of his Project 2025 agenda, signing an executive order to shut down the Department of Education.

The Hill: “Trump signs executive order to dismantle Department of Education”

USA Today: “Trump will direct his 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,’ according to a White House summary”

Project 2025, p. 319: “Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.”

CNN: “Many of Trump’s early actions appear closely aligned with Project 2025’s plans. A CNN analysis of the 53 executive orders and actions from Trump’s first week in office found that more than two-thirds – 36 – evoke proposals outlined in ‘Mandate for Leadership,’ Project 2025’s 922-page blueprint for the next Republican president.”

A majority of Americans oppose Trump shutting down the Department of Education and prioritize protecting education funding.  

Wall Street Journal: “A recent Wall Street Journal poll found that 61% of registered voters opposed getting rid of [the Department of Education]. Most Americans preferred to protect funding for education and other domestic priorities over cutting taxes, the same poll found.”

Data For Progress: “75% of Democrats, 57% of Independents, and 31% of Republicans, oppose [closing the Department of Education].” 

Shutting the Department of Education will have disastrous consequences for tens of millions of families, threatening billions of dollars that support K-12 schools, working families, and under-resourced schools while gutting student loan debt relief. 

LA Times: “The prospect of dismantling the Department of Education has led to questions and fears over potential chaos over how key responsibilities and billions in federal funding — including handling federal financial aid, grants for disadvantaged students and civil rights enforcement — would be affected.

“The department has authority over financial lifelines that so many campuses and students rely on. The department’s K-12 programs serve more than 50 million students attending 130,000 public and private schools; federal grant, loan, and work-study assistance benefits more than 13 million post-secondary students.”

Inside Higher Ed: “College and university stakeholders worry that abolishing the Education Department could be catastrophic for institutions and students. State higher education officials, university administrators, nonprofit advocacy groups and students depend on the Education Department to oversee federal student aid, manage the student loan portfolio, investigate civil rights complaints and allocate billions of dollars in institutional aid, among other operations.” 

Associated Press: “The action is meant to bring relief to the hardest-hit borrowers in a program that allowed private lenders to provide student loans that were backed by the federal government. The program ended in 2010 when the Education Department became the sole lender of federally subsidized student loans.” 

Project 2025, p. 350: “Title I is the largest portion of federal taxpayer spending under this federal education law, and the section provides additional taxpayer resources to schools or groups of schools in lower income areas. … Over a 10-year period, the federal spending should be phased out and states should assume decision-making control over how to provide a quality education to children from low-income families.” 

TIME: “This loss of almost $18 billion in federal funding would be devastating. Eliminating Title I would harm nearly three million children throughout the U.S. … [and] could result in the loss of 180,000 jobs for educators … 

“Title I also provides federal funding for high-poverty schools. These funds have been incredibly important to supplementing state and local funding across the country whether in white schools in Appalachia, rural districts in the South, or in multiracial schools in urban areas.”

Trump shutting the Department down could also disproportionately hit Trump voters the hardest. 

CNN: “Potential federal education cuts could hit GOP’s base hardest” 

“It’s the sort of place where President-elect Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ message resonated – but also where some of his proposed policies could hit hardest, especially his promise to eliminate the Department of Education and slash federal funds to public schools. …

“Even a slight reduction in those dollars could have devastating effects for students and their families.”