Experts reveal how Trump can keep campaign pledge to eliminate Dept of Education: 'Scaling down its size'

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Former Education Sec. Bill Bennett joins Fox & Friends to discuss the decline in math and reading scores among 13-year-olds since 2012 and offers ways President-elect Trump could reform the U.S. education system.

As President Trump reportedly weighs his options for accomplishing his campaign promise of eliminating the Department of Education, experts spoke to Fox News Digital about what that process will look like and what hurdles the president will have to overcome. 

"The administration is right to push to eliminate the ineffective and unpopular Department of Education," Jonathan Butcher, Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital shortly before the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump officials are mulling an executive order calling for a legislative proposal to get rid of the department.

"One thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, DC, and sending all education and education work it needs back to the states," Trump said in a 2023 campaign video.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Monday night that Trump plans to fulfill his campaign promise by reevaluating the future of the department. 

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President Trump vowed on the campaign trail to eliminate the Dept of Education and bring the power back to the states. (Getty Images)

Butcher told Fox News Digital, "Congress should heed the call and advance policy to eliminate most of the agency's programs and spending while moving remaining programs to other federal agencies."

"President Trump can declare that the Education Department’s powers are unconstitutional and request a memo from the Department of Justice to support such a position. The president could, conceivably, do the same for specific programs, the Higher Education Act, for example."

"Another approach would be to relocate the agency someplace away from Washington, DC and require employees work in-person, 5 days per week," Butcher added. "The White House can still remove any non-essential, or non-exempt, positions in the meantime. Even this process would need congressional support to void union contracts."

Butcher told Fox News Digital that even with these possible actions from Trump, the executive branch "still has to spend appropriations as required."

"So, the best-case scenario remains that Congress considers a proposal to close the agency," Butcher said. 

 "In the proposal, Congress should consider creating block grants for large spending programs such as Title I so that states have more autonomy over what is best for schools within their borders," Butcher explained. "And Heritage has proposed moving certain offices that we believe should remain to other agencies, such as the office of civil rights to the Department of Justice."

Julian Epstein, longtime Democratic operative, attorney, and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital that Trump will "likely need an act of Congress" to eliminate the department since it is a statutory created agency unless he can "figure out how to do it through reconciliation."

However, Epstein explained that eliminating the department could ultimately cause Trump headaches.

"But Trump may want to think twice before he eliminates the department as it has important clubs to promote his agenda," Epstein said. "The department is the principal enforcement agency to protect women's sports, prevent discrimination through DEI quotas for favored groups, stop harboring antisemitism, and to address the rather blatant intellectually intolerant, partisan, anti Western ideological factories they have become. To do that, Trump might be well advised to keep the department of education and its core enforcement functions while scaling down its size."

The DOE was established under former President Carter in 1979 when he split it from the Health and Human Services Department. It’s charged with regulating federal student aid funds and ensuring equal access to education, among other responsibilities.

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The US Department of Education building is seen on August 21, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Tierney L. Cross)

Republicans have called to dismantle the agency for decades since former President Carter established itt in 1979, making the case that decisions regarding schools should be determined at the local level.

Democrats argue the department provides stability and an opportunity to enforce more generalized policies – civil rights protections, reducing educational disparities and addressing systemic inequalities.

Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk, who was tasked with leading the Trump administration’s effort to cut back government waste through the DOGE effort, has previously voiced support for eliminating the department. 

Experts who spoke to Fox News Digital in November echoed the belief that any effort to fully abolish the department would need the help of Congress. 

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President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC. ?Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States.? (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

"President Trump does not have the ability to eliminate a federal department. Eliminating it would require congressional action, including a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate," Andrew Stoltmann, an attorney and law professor, said. 

"So, even if Trump can follow through with what he says, he has to pull in some Democrats in the Senate, and that will likely be impossible."

Stoltmann explained that Trump‘s "best bet is to appoint somebody who will effectively be a figurehead at the Department of Education."

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Former administrator of the US Small Business Administration and US education secretary nominee Linda McMahon (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"This doesn’t eliminate the department, but it effectively neuters it during his term," Stoltman said. 

The timing of a Trump executive order is unclear although some believe the administration will wait until Trump's pick to lead the department, former SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, is confirmed, although no timetable for that confirmation is currently set. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment. 

Fox News Digital's Aubrie Spady, Liz Elkind, and Taylor Penley contributed to this report