By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would like to close the U.S. Department of Education using an executive order but acknowledged he would need buy-ins from Congress and teachers' unions to fulfill his campaign pledge to do so.
Trump has spent his first weeks in office pushing through massive changes to the U.S. government, demanding federal employees come back to work in offices or quit, seeking cost and job cuts, and reforming or trying to shut down agencies such as the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Education Department has been high on Trump's list of targets. A White House official said an executive order expected to be issued later in February would direct the secretary of education to work to close the department.
A 90-day review would take place to outline a plan and Congress' input would be sought, the official said.
"We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, and we're ranked at the bottom of the list. We're ranked very badly. And what I want to do is let the states run schools," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
The president said he had tasked Linda McMahon, his pick to be education secretary, to shutter the department he wants her to lead. McMahon has not yet been confirmed by the Senate for the role.
"I told Linda: 'Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,'" Trump said. "I want her to put herself out of a job."
Trump said he would "like to be able" to close the department with an executive order alone. Congress would need to pass legislation to shut down the department, however.
Trump's main roadblock would be in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53-47 majority but major legislation, like a bill to eliminate a cabinet-level agency, would need 60 votes and thus the support of seven Democrats to pass.
Senate Democrats have given no sign they would support abolishing the Education Department.
"I think I'd work with Congress," Trump said. "We'd have to work with the teachers' union because the teachers' union is the only one that's opposed to it."
Randi Weingarten (NYSE:WRI), president of the American Federation of Teachers, said her union would welcome a chat with Trump.
"We’d be happy to have a conversation with the new president," she told Reuters. "States and local districts have long run public schools: we are very concerned this move would undermine and hurt, not help, the lives of millions of working and middle class kids whose public education is improved by federal dollars."
The White House official said some tasks currently handled by the department could be moved to other agencies, such as the departments of Treasury, Labor and Justice, though the executive order does not go into detail on that.
Republicans were critical of the Education Department under former President Joe Biden, particularly over student loan forgiveness and policies related to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Trump has issued executive orders to dismantle DEI programs across the federal government, and some career staff at the Education Department have already been placed on administrative leave.