Greetings. It's Friday, March the 7th, 2025, and this is Denison Forum's daily article podcast.

Today's daily article is written by our senior editor for Theology, Dr. Ryan Denison, and narrated by Chris Elkins.

News broke Thursday morning that President Trump was planning to sign an executive order

instructed newly appointed Education Secretary Linda McMahan to begin dismantling the Department

of Education.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt quickly wrote on X that such an order would not be

signed on Thursday, though

it's perhaps telling that she did not refute the idea that such an order would come soon.

As of this morning, that order still has not been signed, though the situation could change

quickly. And while the timing is still uncertain, Trump seemed to indicate that it won't be long.

Quote, I want to just do it. I mean, we're starting the process. We're trying to get the schools back to the states, end quote.

But why is dismantling the department such a high priority for the president? And what would it look like if he was able to succeed in doing so?

Before we can answer those questions, we first need to understand a bit more about what the

Department of Education actually does. Congress created the Department of Education in 1979

to consolidate the various education programs that had previously been spread among different agencies.

Ronald Reagan campaigned on dismantling at the following year, and seeing the department dissolved

back into its disparate elements, has been a goal for many Republicans ever since.

But while the department is responsible for a variety of education-related services, it doesn't have nearly as much of an impact on high school and below as you might think.

The states still set the curriculum, and local school boards have far more influence over what is taught and how schools are run than the federal government.

Moreover, the states pay for roughly 90% of public education, with the remainder coming from the federal government. Moreover, the states pay for roughly 90% of public education

with the remainder coming from the federal level. Still, that 10% is often enough for the federal

government to wield a good bit of influence over what is taught as evidenced by both the push

...