President Trump’s March 20 executive order says Education Secretary Linda McMahon “shall, to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law, take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities while ensuring the effective and uninterrupted delivery of services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.”
In other words, it says that McMahon should do everything she can to dismantle the the agency without breaking federal laws, which includes eliminating any ED functions required by law. Trump said that as part of his effort to close the agency, critical functions such as administering federal student aid (loans and grants) and funding for students with disabilities would be transferred to other agencies.
On Friday, President Trump said at a White House event that the responsibility for managing federal student aid will be transferred to the Small Business Administration, and that managing programs that assist students with disabilities will be transferred to HHS. For now, however, the ED will continue to run those programs as the law requires.
