Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton also were in the audience as President Donald Trump signed an executive order to start shutting down the U.S. Department of Education.
By Joseph Morton and Talia Richman
Staff Writers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott applauded Thursday as he watched President Donald Trump sign an executive order to downsize — and ultimately eliminate — the U.S. Department of Education.
“It’s insanity that we have this massive bureaucracy in the Department of Education, where we’ve been spending countless dollars of American money and not getting results for it,” Abbott told reporters just after the signing ceremony in the East Room concluded. “We will get far better results by having this money go directly to the states.”
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton were also in the audience, looking on approvingly as Trump signed the order he said would start the process of abolishing the Department of Education “once and for all.”
“It sounds strange doesn’t it? Department of Education. We’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right,” Trump said.
The order directs the education secretary — to the maximum extent allowed by law — to “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.”
The order is expected to be challenged in court as the department can only be officially eliminated by Congress. Trump said he hopes Democrats on Capitol Hill will support the move.
Here at the White House with @GregAbbott_TX and @KenPaxtonTX. pic.twitter.com/DR97TpfTeT— Office of the Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (@LtGovTX) March 20, 2025
Texas AFT President Zeph Capo offered the governor a sharp rebuke for his appearance at the event.
“It makes perfect sense for Gov. Greg Abbott to be on hand for the dismantling of the Department of Education,” he said in a statement. “It has been the only governmental entity holding his administration accountable for guaranteeing parents’ and students’ rights to a free and fair education.”
Federal officials announced earlier this month that the department would lay off all employees in the Dallas field office. Nearly half the agency’s staff was cut nationwide.
The cuts — locally and nationally — raised questions about what will become of the department’s fundamental roles such as ensuring students’ access to education, upholding civil rights in schools and managing federal student loans.
Paige Duggins-Clay, the chief legal analyst of the Intercultural Development Research Association, a Texas education nonprofit, said families have invested time and energy into telling painful stories about their children’s rights being violated in schools that the Department of Education investigated through its Office for Civil Rights. Their lives were disrupted, and they trusted the agency to review such complaints in good faith, she said.
“To suggest that this was done in the name of efficiency is just bad faith,” she said. “This, unfortunately, seems like a really dangerous pattern of undermining legacy offices and legacy functions of government to protect civil rights.”
Trump said at the signing that other agencies will take over many of the department’s major responsibilities and that funding will be preserved for Pell Grants, Title I and children with disabilities and special needs.
Abbott cited Trump’s statements when asked about concerns that eliminating the department could negatively impact students with disabilities or those facing violations of their civil rights. He downplayed the potential for disruptions to programs that support higher education, such as Pell Grants.
“They truly are dedicated to make sure that all the grant programs that currently exist will continue to operate flawlessly,” Abbott said, referring to the Trump administration.
He described Trump’s executive order as the president making good on campaign promises and said it’s something Texans have wanted to see for a long time.
Abbott touted state legislative initiatives that will improve education in the state, such as the “school choice” bill that has already passed the state Senate and he said should move out of committee in the House next week.
He also predicted the state would have record per-student funding coming out of the ongoing legislative session, with boosts in teacher pay, and said state officials are working to add more money for students with disabilities.
He said the state has developed teacher training in reading and math.
“We’ve got to get back to the basics and perfect the basics, which focus on reading and math,” he said. “We’ve seen these reading and math academies in Texas meet with great success. We need to be able to expand those to every corner of our entire state.”
The average scores of eighth-graders in Texas was below the national average in both math and reading, according to the most recent results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly called the “nation’s report card.”
In Austin, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters just before the signing that education is the states’ responsibility, not the federal government’s.
“Unfortunately, the federal Department of Education has been part and parcel of the effort to impose DEI requirements or what I would consider ‘woke’ requirements in the curriculum,” he said. “So I don’t think we’re going to miss the federal Department of Education.”
The biggest question for many is what happens to the billions of dollars sent to run public schools every year, such as Title I funding, which supports schools in communities with high concentrations of poverty. Much of the funding doled out by the department is required under federal law.
Most of Texas’ K-12 funding comes from local property taxes and state funding with federal funds making up about 7% of all funds in 2023-24. Still, Texas receives billions for Title I, special education and other programs.
The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights enforces federal laws that protect students against discrimination and responds to complaints based on race, disability, age and national origin, among others.
A public database of cases under investigation recently showed more than 1,000 results for Texas, including those at colleges, universities and K-12 school districts.
Among the state’s high-profile cases still unresolved involve Southlake Carroll families who said their children faced racist and homophobic harassment.
Many of the open cases are centered around alleged violations of the rights of students with disabilities. In 2018, a federal investigation found that Texas schools denied special education services for students in a deliberate effort to keep down their numbers.
The fate of those investigations is unknown. The Office for Civil Rights’ probes often took months or years to complete. Families were frustrated with the delays even before the Trump administration cuts, and now they’re more worried about their languishing cases.
Duggins-Clay said she hopes — and expects — the administration’s actions will face legal challenges. Advocates want to protect the department’s essential role, she said.
“It has one of the most important jobs in the federal government, and that’s making sure that all young people can go to school free from discrimination,” she said.
The Associated Press and Dallas Morning News reporter Nolan D. McCaskill contributed to this article.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
Joseph Morton covers the intersection of business and politics in the Washington Bureau. Before joining The News, Joseph worked for CQ Roll Call and the Omaha World-Herald. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Talia is a reporter for The Dallas Morning News Education Lab. A Dallas native, she attended Richardson High School and graduated from the University of Maryland. She previously covered schools and City Hall for The Baltimore Sun.
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