A white house official has reportedly told several outlets that President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, one month after headlines first started to pop up that the action was looming. A draft of the potential order obtained by several outlets directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education." The reports reflect a promise Trump made throughout his 2024 campaign. "And one other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states," he said in a video posted to his campaign website in September 2023. He repeated the same goal during an interview in August 2024 with Elon Musk on X. The claim sparked widespread debate, with lawmakers and legal experts questioning his authority to do so.