WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday began sketching a roadmap for dismantling the Education Department, with other agencies taking over responsibility for federal student loans and programs serving students with disabilities.
The executive order Trump signed Thursday to do away with the department did not offer a timeline or instructions, but his administration appears poised to carve away all but the department's most vital operations.
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President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order at an education event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Donald Trump attends the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Republican president said during a White House event that student loans will be handled by the Small Business Administration, and “it will be serviced much better than it has in the past.” He also said programs involving students with disabilities would be shifted to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The decisions drew blowback from advocacy groups that fear disruptions will be inevitable. The Small Business Association announced Friday it will cut its staff by 43%, raising questions about its ability to take on the Education Department’s $1.6 trillion loan portfolio.
“This can only result in borrowers experiencing erratic and inconsistent management of their federal student loans,” said Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of the Institute of College Access and Success. “Errors will prove costly to borrowers and ultimately, to taxpayers.”
Trump’s executive order said the student loan portfolio is too big for the Education Department to manage. After the SBA cuts, however, it will be left with fewer than 4,000 employees — about the size of the Education Department before it was cut in half by the Trump administration.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said she is preparing to relocate the department’s core operations to other agencies and roll back federal regulations. In an opinion piece published Friday by Fox News Channel, she said abolishing the department “will not happen tomorrow,” but she plans to pave the way.
“We will systematically unwind unnecessary regulations and prepare to reassign the department’s other functions to the states or other agencies,” McMahon wrote.
The functions to be reassigned include the distribution of federal money to support low-income students and students with disabilities, the department’s management of student financial aid, civil rights enforcement and data collection, she wrote.
Some parent groups fear the reorganization could result in weaker protections for children with disabilities. The National Parents Union said families are anxious HHS might treat students' learning disabilities as medical issues and make them subject to insurance claims.
″Do we really think they are going to pay for our kid’s reading interventions?" said Keri Rodrigues, the group's president. “Our children are not sick. They are not broken. They are not insurance claims.”
Only Congress has the power to bring a full end to the Education Department. Republicans in Congress are planning legislation to eliminate the agency, though they face heavy opposition from Democrats.
Democrats on Friday said Trump does not have authority to move federal loans or disability services to other agencies. They noted federal law places those duties under the management of the Education Department, including in the Higher Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
Tom Harnisch, vice president for government relations for the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, said he questions the capacity of another agency to take over the massive student loan portfolio.
“That’s been one of our large concerns,” he said. “And what is the value added by making this overhaul to this agency?"
On Friday, Democrats introduced a House resolution requesting Trump and McMahon turn over records related to the shutdown attempt. If the House Committee on Education and the Workforce takes action within 14 legislative days, it could go before the full House.
Trump has denounced the department as a waste of taxpayer money, saying it has become infected by liberal ideology. He said its power should be turned over to states, which he sees as a remedy for America’s lagging education system.
Since the Education Department was created in 1979, the nation’s student test scores have remained flat despite $1 trillion in agency spending, McMahon said in her Fox News piece.
AP education writer Cheyanne Mumphrey in Phoenix contributed to this report.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order at an education event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
President Donald Trump attends the annual St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
ALDIE, Va. (AP) — The room where President James Monroe crafted part of his famed doctrine exudes a quiet, stately atmosphere.
Inside the enclosed west porch a few footsteps away, a quarried-stone floor marked by fossilized dinosaur tracks glimmers in the sunlight. Just around the corner, a portico built by enslaved African Americans looks out over rolling foothills stretching into the misty northern Virginia horizon, a captivating view untarnished by monied property developments bellying up nearby.
It’s an early morning at Oak Hill, where centuries of history are deeply rooted in Monroe’s Loudoun County estate. It’s the last home of a presidential Founding Father still in private hands, according to conservation experts.
That is, maybe, until now.
The DeLashmutt family, which has owned Oak Hill in the community of Aldie since 1948, hopes to convert its sprawling 1,240 acres (502 hectares) into a state park. A bill to that effect unanimously passed the House of Delegates last month but failed in the Senate.
The DeLashmutts, along with a nonprofit corporation, The Conservation Fund, hope Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin will revive the multimillion-dollar project by including it in his proposed amendment to the budget bill ahead of the General Assembly’s veto session. The governor has until Monday to submit his revisions.
“We’ve taken good care of it,” family matriarch Gayle DeLashmutt said, gazing up at trees in the garden during a recent tour of the grounds. “And I think it’s time to let somebody else do it.”
The DeLashmutt family, which is unrelated to the Monroes, is part of a long line of Virginians who have lived in Oak Hill. Other Founding Fathers’ homes in the state — Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, George Washington's Mount Vernon and Monroe's Highland estate — are owned by educational and historical institutions that open the estates' doors to the public.
The residence at Oak Hill has a complex heritage: At the top of a split staircase leading to the entrance sits a gifted bell from the decommissioned USS Oak Hill. Inside, elegant parlors feature fireplace mantelpieces made of decadent marble, a gift from Monroe's longtime friend, the Marquis de LaFayette, to thank first lady Elizabeth Kortright Monroe for saving his wife from the guillotine. On an interior windowpane, a young man with the last name of Fairfax, a family that previously owned the house, scratched his name and the date of his graduation from the Virginia Military Institute.
Gayle DeLashmutt’s daughter, India DeLashmutt, grew up on the estate, charging about on go-carts and sledding down steep hills in the same place that Monroe hosted first lady Dolley Madison more than 100 years earlier. Her father used to tell her stories about finding arrowheads in Little River, a tributary that streams through the property.
“There’s just this span of time, and this place can really represent it,” she said.
The estate also embodies the histories of the enslaved African Americans who built and cared for the property.
There is George Williams, an enslaved carpenter who constructed the main house in Oak Hill, according to independent researcher Emily Stanfill. And Natus Berryman, who lived at Oak Hill before being forced to move to the South, said Lori Kimball, another researcher.
Opening the estate to the public full time would allow people to learn more about their stories, Kimball said.
Donna Bohanan, chair of the Black History Committee at a Loudon County genealogical library, said it would also educate the public about the Indigenous people and tenant farmers who lived on and worked the land.
“I advocate for not just focusing on the great men of history or military history because that leaves out a lot,” Bohanan said. “By telling our more inclusive stories, we can start to see the connections between all of us as members of the human race.”
Loudoun County has allocated $22 million toward the roughly $52 million needed to support the project, while The Conservation Fund and other groups have raised another nearly $25 million. The family is selling the property for $20 million. The Conservation Fund says the state won't have to pay a dime toward the project.
The legislation for such an acquisition, backed by Democratic Del. Alfonso Lopez, passed unanimously in the Virginia House last month but stalled in the state Senate. During the final days of the session, Democratic Sen. L. Louise Lucas told reporters that she thought the bill was an excellent idea but expressed concern about long-term commitments from the state, even if it has no upfront financial obligation.
“That’s a lot of park for somebody to take care of," she said. "Those are the kinds of things you have to consider when you’re working on these budgets.”
Youngkin said Wednesday he was initially resistant to the project because he was not sure the business plan was fully fleshed out. But he said he felt less uneasy after touring the estate with Republican Del. Geary Higgins, whose district includes Oak Hill.
“We had a good visit, and I’m still trying to decide what we do,” Youngkin said. “No promises, but I’m open-minded.”
Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Gayle DeLashmutt poses for a portrait in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gayle and India DeLashmutt pose for a portrait in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A structure formerly used as a smokehouse at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The home where Joseph Jones, uncle of President James Monroe, resided at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A bench in the garden at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The garden at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The portico of the main house at Oak Hill is seen from the garden in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The garden at Oak Hill is seen through the wrought iron railing on the portico of the main house in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The lower dining room in the main house at Oak Hill, where the DeLashmutt family typically eat their meals, is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A fossilized dinosaur track is seen in the quarried-stone floor in the west porch of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A fossilized dinosaur track is seen in the quarried-stone floor in the west porch of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The west porch of the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The dining room in the main house at Oak Hill, where President James Monroe crafted part of his famed Monroe Doctrine, is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The former bedroom of first lady Dolley Madison in the main house at Oak Hill is seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Etched writing is seen on a window of a bedroom in the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gayle DeLashmutt points to etching on a window that was scratched by a member of the family that previously owned Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Marble details on the fireplace mantelpiece in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill are seen Wednesday, March 12, 2025, in Aldie, Va. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The west parlor in the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A historic chair upholstered with horse hair, a commonality for furniture during the 19th century, is seen in the east parlor of the main house at Oak Hill in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The east parlor in the main house at Oak Hill is seen in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
A bell from the decommissioned USS Oak Hill is seen at the front entrance of the main house at Oak Hill, the privately owned former estate of presidential Founding Father James Monroe in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
The portico of the main house at Oak Hill is seen from the garden in Aldie, Va., on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
