Flanked by school kids, Trump signs order to dismantle Department of Education

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that seeks to dismantle the Department of Education and leave school policy in the hands of states, making good on a campaign promise that has energised conservatives and worried education advocates.

"It sounds strange, doesn’t it? Department of Education. We’re going to eliminate it," Trump said on Thursday at a ceremony where he was flanked by children seated at school desks.

Thursday’s order follows the department's announcement last week that it would lay off nearly half of its staff. It is the latest step by Trump, who has been in office some two months, to reshape the US government and upend the federal bureaucracy.

Trump signed the order with students, teachers, parents and state governors who support the effort, a sign of its resonance with some Republican voters and Trump's "Make America Great Again".

Trump has derided the department as wasteful and polluted by liberal ideology.

Completing its dismantling is most likely impossible without an act of Congress, which created the department in 1979.

Trump said the matter is likely to come before Congress and encouraged Democrats to vote for it.

"Everybody knows it's right, and the Democrats know it's right, and I hope they're going to be voting for it, because ultimately it may come before them," Trump said, adding that America hasn't performed well globally in education "for a long time."

He promised to return education management to individual states, saying that would cost the government less and produce better outcomes.

Trump did not give details on the department still overseeing loans and grants.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Thursday said the order will result in a "much smaller" department, which will nonetheless continue handling student loans and some crucial programmes.

___

Source: TRT