By Laura Meckler · The Washington Post
As President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order aimed at closing the Education Department, his press secretary acknowledged that the administration cannot do this on its own.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the department will not be completely shut down, which would require congressional action, but said a smaller version will continue to administer “critical functions.”
She said those functions included the student loan program, Pell grants, civil rights enforcement and major grant programs of Title I and IDEA, which helps pay the cost of educating students with disabilities. Together, those programs represent the vast majority of what the department does.
“We’re greatly reducing the scale and size of the department,” she said.