Trump to sign executive order abolishing Education Department by dismantling 'bureaucratic bloat' in agency's 'momentous final mission'

Donald Trump could take the final steps toward shuttering the Department of Education within 24 hours.

The president is expected to sign an executive order which would bring about abolishing the department as soon as Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Citing a draft of the order, the publication reported that Education Secretary Linda McMahon will be tasked with taking 'all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department.'

This will be done to 'the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.'

According to the publication, the draft order reads: 'The experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars - and the unaccountable bureaucrats those programs and dollars support - has failed our children, our teachers, and our families.'

McMahon was only recently appointed to lead the doomed 4,200-person federal agency. 

She reportedly sent a company-wide email to staff on Monday in which she described her task of dismantling the department as a 'momentous final mission.'

She said she had been 'tasked... with accomplishing the elimination of the bureaucratic bloat here at the Education Department - a momentous final mission - quickly and responsibly.' 

'I want Linda to put herself out of a job,' Trump said of McMahon in February.

The Department of Education has been low hanging fruit for Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. 

Already DOGE has celebrated cutting billions of dollars from the agency, over half a billion of which came from canceling DEI grants. 

And last month, Trump said the Education Department was 'a big con job' and that 'I'd like to close it immediately.' 

During her confirmation hearing in February, McMahon lauded the work of the Musk-led group. 

'So DOGE, there are a couple of implants at the Department of Education as there are with agencies throughout the district,' McMahon said.  'They're doing an audit.' 

During the session she claimed the department was guilty of 'excessive consolidation of power,' and called for 'education freedom, not government-run systems.' 

'Listen to parents, not politicians,' she said. 'Build up careers, not college debt.'

Trump vowed during his election campaign to end what he called 'wokeness' and 'indoctrination' at the agency.

Education Department spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said earlier this week that McMahon was very clear in her intention to bring Trump's vision to life.

'He was very clear about what his vision for the department looked like, and Secretary McMahon was clear in the hearing that she is here to implement his agenda,' she said.