WASHINGTON, March 6, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order as soon as Thursday instructing his newly confirmed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to dismantle the department she now leads, US media has reported.

The Wall Street Journal cited a draft of the executive order circulating Wednesday which directs McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Education Department" based on "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."

Trump, 78, promised to decentralize education as he campaigned for a return to the White House, saying he would devolve the department's powers to state governments.

The US Department of Education, which was established in 1979 under former president Jimmy Carter, by law cannot be shuttered without Congress passing an act with 60 votes in favor in the Senate.

However, as with other agencies in the federal bureaucracy under Trump's second administration, the department could see widespread slashes to programs and employees, kneecapping its functionality.

The Republican leader's threat to shut down the education department has angered Democrats, teachers' unions and many parents, who see it as an attack on the public education system.

McMahon, a 76-year-old businesswoman who formerly served as CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, said at a Senate education committee hearing last month that "the excessive consolidation of power" in Washington was damaging education.

"So what's the remedy? Fund education freedom, not government," she said.

The Washington Post reported McMahon and other officials have suggested moving some of the agency's functions to other parts of the government in their effort to dismantle it, though it could prompt legal challenges.