Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities
The order directs the Secretary of Education to take all steps permitted by law to facilitate closing the Department of Education and returning authority over education to states and local communities.
It also immediately conditions all federal education funding on recipients ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs — a funding requirement that takes effect under the order's own terms.
What this order does
What it orders
The order directs the Secretary of Education to take all necessary steps, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to states and local communities, while ensuring existing services and programs continue uninterrupted. It also requires the Secretary to condition all federal education funds on rigorous compliance with federal law — specifically, that any recipient terminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and programs the order labels "gender ideology."
The order cannot itself dissolve the Department of Education — doing so requires an act of Congress, since Congress created the department by statute in 1979. The text explicitly conditions implementation on "applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations," meaning the Secretary's closure steps are bounded by what existing statutes permit. No specific timeline is assigned to any required action.
Who it affects
The Department of Education and its approximately 1,500-person workforce, states and local school districts receiving federal K–12 funding, colleges and universities participating in federal student aid programs, and any institution currently operating DEI or gender-related programs that receive federal education funding.
Why it matters
Schools and universities receiving federal education dollars must end DEI programs or risk losing that funding under the order's compliance conditions. The Department of Education faces an operational directive to begin winding down, affecting its workforce and its management of the roughly $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio.
What must happen and when
How the order is supposed to work
The Secretary of Education is the sole directed actor but is explicitly limited to what existing law permits — full closure requires Congress to repeal the 1979 statute that created the department. The DEI funding condition is the most immediately operative provision: the Secretary must verify recipient compliance before disbursing federal education dollars. No specific reporting chain, oversight structure, or deadline is established. The order is also subject to appropriations, making congressional budgeting a parallel constraint on implementation pace.
Actions and deadlines
- Take all necessary steps to facilitate closure of the Department of Education and return authority to states and local communities
- Ensure all federal education funds are conditioned on recipients terminating DEI programs and programs promoting gender ideology