The Bottom Line One-Year Anniversary of a Historic Executive Order
Originally published at Independent Women's ForumIt’s been one year since President Trump signed the historic executive order, “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities.”
At the signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House on March 20, 2025, the President directed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States while continuing to ensure the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
The stated purpose and policy of the executive order reads: “Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child. Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.”
The progress in a year’s time has been nothing short of extraordinary. As I wrote in The Wall Street Journal on the one-year anniversary, “The results are striking. The Department has overhauled operations — cutting nearly half its staff, reducing administrative layers, and consolidating offices. Grants have been streamlined, programs merged, reporting reduced, and oversight of the $1.6 trillion student-loan portfolio shifted to a more capable agency.”
Furthermore, several federally funded initiatives rooted in political priorities have been discontinued, refocusing resources on student learning and core academics. In the process, the Department has cut approximately $2 billion in inefficient spending.
States have been encouraged to seek waivers from onerous federal rules, giving them more control over how education dollars are used. Meanwhile, closer alignment between the Departments of Education and Labor is expanding career and technical pathways, helping students translate what they learn in school into real, in-demand skills.
Then, six days after the one-year anniversary, the Department of Education announced it will vacate the 70% empty Lyndon B. Johnson headquarters. This is a major win for taxpayers, as the savings total $4.8 million annually. The Department will move to 500 D Street SW in August.
Real reform is happening — and it’s moving at a remarkable pace thanks to the Trump administration.
Click HERE to watch Keri D. Ingraham’s interview on The Tony Kinnett Cast discussing shrinking the U.S. Department of Education: