What to know about Trump's plan to eliminate the Department of Education

• Abolishing the department and the accompanying changes are "an effort to strip the federal government of any ability to do good ... as a way to justify further defunding our public schools and colleges," Kelly Rosinger, an associate professor of education and public policy at Penn State, told Axios last fall.

The latest: Almost half of the department's more than 4,100 employees will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21, the department said Tuesday.

• Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News the cuts were meant to reduce "bureaucratic bloat" in the agency and align with Trump's goal to close it entirely.

The big picture: Trump administration officials are discussing an executive order that would abolish department programs that aren't explicitly written into law, the Wall Street Journal reported last month.

• The order would also call on Congress to take action to shut down the department entirely.
• The department has already been targeted for dramatic cuts, after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began identifying staff and spending to slash, the Washington Post reported.
• When reached for comment regarding plans for the executive order, the White House did not deny the reports but declined to comment on the record.

State of play: The Department of Education has been a punching bag for Republicans for decades. Ronald Reagan threatened to abolish it, and many inside the GOP have echoed Trump's calls for its end.

• The official 2024 GOP platform also called for closing it.

Can Trump actually get rid of the department?

While not impossible, Trump's political pathway to abolishing the Department of Education is narrow.

• Eliminating the department would require congressional action, likely including a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate, the Washington Post reported.
• Despite their 53-47 Senate majority, Republicans are unlikely to muster up the votes to circumvent the filibuster.
• A 2023 House vote on an amendment eliminating the department failed after 60 Republicans joined Democrats opposing it, per the Post.

Flashback: Trump's animus toward the Department of Education isn't new. During his first term, he proposed merging the Education and Labor departments.

• Betsy DeVos, Trump's previous secretary of education, was seen by many critics as anti-public education.

What does the Department of Education do?

The Department of Education's budget funds a variety of programs to help students obtain a quality education.

• The department funds Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides supplemental funding to high-poverty K-12 school districts.
• Head Start programs provide vital child care services for many low-income and rural communities across the country, Rosinger pointed out.
• The department also administers Pell Grants, which help low-income students attend college.
• The Office of Special Education Programs provides resources to support students with disabilities through age 21.
• The department also collects national data on schools and enforces federal civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination.

Zoom in: The Department of Education is also the loan holder for most federal student loans.

What happens if the department is eliminated?

Project 2025, which Trump's allies have touted as the administration's agenda, outlines plans to abolish the department, which it calls a "one-stop shop for the woke education cartel."

• Instead, Project 2025 calls for redistributing various federal education programs across the government, while eliminating others or transferring them to the states.
• For instance, it calls for management of Title I to be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services. The department's civil rights office would join the Justice Department, and the Treasury Department would manage student loan collections and defaults.

What they're saying: These changes — from shifting programs across agencies, shuffling staff or losing experts in the field — could mean "chaos ahead," Rosinger said.

• "When federal government programs are chaotic, it's going to disproportionately harm working-class families," she added.

Who is Trump's Education Secretary?

Trump tapped his transition team co-chair Linda McMahon to serve as the secretary of the Department of Education.

• McMahon, a former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) executive, had previously served as the Small Business Administration director during Trump's first administration.
• McMahon was confirmed by the Senate in March on a 51-45 vote.
• Trump told reporters in February that he hopes she will "put herself out of a job."

What could happen to student loans?

While Trump has repeatedly railed against the Biden administration's student debt forgiveness efforts, Project 2025 takes aim at the federal government's role as a student loan lender.

• Project 2025 says that income-driven repayment (IDR) plans have "proliferated beyond reason," and that a new IDR plan should be instituted that requires payments equal to 10% of a borrower's income for those earning above the poverty line.
• It also calls for returning to a system where private lenders offer student loans. Private loans typically come with higher interest rates than federal loans.
• There are also concerns the administration could narrow the scope of loans available to help students attain higher education, like eliminating Parent PLUS loans for undergraduates and graduate student PLUS loans — both of which Project 2025 calls for, Rosinger said.

How will this reshape American education?

These changes would profoundly alter American education.

• For one, it will "decimate" the professional education bureaucracy, as Trump replaces career experts in their fields with political appointees, Rosinger said.

Between the lines: Even if the Department of Education is left intact, changes are likely, as the Trump administration is unlikely to continue the Biden administration's efforts to expand LGBTQ+ and gender equality protections or forgive student debt, Rosinger said.

• The Trump administration could also transfer responsibility for accrediting universities and colleges to the states, she added.
• That could see accreditation being "used as a lever" to discourage schools from pursuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs and affirmative action programs, Rosinger noted.

The bottom line: "Looking at Project 2025, the programs that are supporting trans students, that support low-income students, that support racially minoritized students, these are going to be the ones that are the most threatened," Rosinger said.

Go deeper: What another Trump term could mean for student loan relief

Editor's note: This story was updated with new developments.