Welcome to the NewsHour. President Donald Trump made good on a pledge today to try to eliminate the Federal Department of Education, which was created more than four decades ago.

That department has been a target of critics for nearly as long as it's existed. But President Trump and other Republicans want to go all the way this time. Calling the department wasteful and arguing it fails too many students.

Many educators today argued it's critical and provides key services that states and localities cannot.

President Trump today signed an executive order aimed at shutting down the Department of Education.

After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education by far than any other

country and spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country and it's not even close,

but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.

But the order might be more of a first step than a final blow.

Congress created the department in 1979,

and the Constitution doesn't give the President the power to shut it down by executive order alone.

But technicalities haven't stopped Trump's agenda so far.

His goal, he says, return education to the states and have other agencies absorb the

department's responsibilities.

We're going to take care of our teachers, and I believe the states will take actually better

care of them than they are taken care of right now.

The Education Department is largely responsible for managing federal funding, enforcing civil rights laws and access for students with disabilities, and servicing more than a trillion dollars worth of student loans.

If you look at the Pell Grant's supposed to be a very good program, Title I funding and resources for children with special disabilities and special needs, they're going to be preserved in full and redistributed to various other agencies and departments that will take very good care of them.

Even if some of that work shifts to other departments and agencies,

critics say losing the umbrella of the education department

could mean the work loses its larger mission,

ensuring equal access for American students.

Democrats have been unified against the Trump administration's plan.

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