WASHINGTON — As billionaire Elon Musk and his allies continue to purge the federal government of hundreds of employees and gut agencies despite dubious legal standing, the world’s richest man has set his eyes on his next big target: the federal Education Department.

Responding to a Washington Post report that President Donald Trump is working on an executive order to dismantle the department — eliminating federal agencies requires congressional action, a constitutional requirement Trump and Musk are testing the boundaries of — Musk wrote that Trump “will succeed” in eliminating the $79 billion agency that oversees nearly $2 trillion in student debt, pours billions into special education funding for students with disabilities and fills in financial gaps for school districts with low-income students.

“[Former President Ronald] Reagan campaigned on ending the federal Dept of Education, which was created by Carter in 1979, but it was bigger when Reagan left office than when he started,” Musk wrote. “Not this time. President [Trump] will succeed.”

Trump’s right-wing allies cheered on the coming executive action. 

“To my friends who are upset, I would say with respect, call someone who cares. They better get used to this,” Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said on Fox News on Monday night. “It’s USAID today. It’s going to be the Department of Education tomorrow.”

On Tuesday at the White House, Trump told reporters like to leave the business of running schools to the states. He said he’d try to dismantle the department with an executive order but said he believed he would need to work with Congress to dissolve the agency.

Trump repeatedly campaigned on shuttering the Education Department, describing it as having been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” 

Musk — the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter — has used similar justification as a newly designated “special government employee” to bring the functions of government agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development to a screeching halt. The billionaire, who is taking control of large swaths of the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, described USAID as “a criminal organization” and “evil,” writing this week that it was “time for it to die.” He also accused the Treasury Department, where he and his aides have exerted considerable control, of extensive criminality without offering evidence.

Most K-12 public schools largely rely on state and local funding, with federal funds accounting for roughly 14% of public school budgets nationwide. Most of those funds are allocated for low-income and homeless students and children with disabilities. The department is also responsible for enforcing civil rights laws and overseeing federal student aid programs, including the Pell Grant for low income students and the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. 

Becky Pringle — the president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union with more than 3 million members — told Spectrum News that the department's role in educating millions of American public school students goes beyond the funding and "is also there to protect the civil rights of our students."

The NEA estimates that roughly 25 million school children benefit from federal funds through the Education Department’s Title I program for low-achieving students and impoverished school districts. 

“The money that goes out for kids with disabilities, the money that goes out for kids who are low income, the money that goes out for the career [and tech education] programs, the money that goes out for work study programs, the money that goes out for kids who are learning English — you're talking about millions of kids,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who leads the country’s second largest teachers union, told CNN on Tuesday morning. 

Neither the president nor Musk have the legal authority to shut down federal agencies — or consolidate them, as the administration has attempted to do by bringing USAID under State Department control — without congressional approval. While Republicans have narrow control of both chambers of Congress, previous efforts by GOP lawmakers to eliminate the Education Department have gotten little traction, including during Trump’s first term.

On Monday, dozens of Education Department workers were put on paid administrative leave in response to Trump’s order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, a union official said, despite the majority of employees placed on leave not working on DEI initiatives. The workers spanned all branches of the agency, from an office that sends billions of dollars to K-12 schools to an office that enforces civil rights laws, according to Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252.

Those placed on leave lost access to their government email accounts and were told not to report to the office. They include a range of staff members and managers across the department, which employs more than 4,000 workers in Washington and regional offices across the country.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a former teacher and member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, slammed Trump for “purging” employees.

“This won’t help our kids learn or even save us money,” Murray said on X. “He’s just breaking services people rely on.”

Trump nominated former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during his first term, to lead the Education Department. But her Senate confirmation hearing has not yet been scheduled as her financial disclosures continue to be reviewed by the Office of Government Ethics. Separately, the Maryland Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the constitutionality of a child sex abuse law that McMahon, her estranged husband and the WWE are being sued under for allegations of ignoring and enabling the abuse of WWE “ring boys” for decades.

Trump said on Tuesday he nominated McMahon despite his call to eliminate the Education Department because he wants her “to put herself out of a job.”

“I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job.’ I want her to put herself out of a job,’” Trump told reporters.

It is unclear how the effort to dismantle the Education Department and McMahon’s legal troubles will affect her nomination. 

Two of Trump’s other major nominees — Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department and former Rep. Matt Gaetz to be attorney general — saw their candidacies disrupted by allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse. Hegseth was narrowly confirmed thanks to a tiebreaking vote by Vice President JD Vance after three Republican senators defected, and Gaetz dropped out of contention long before a vote was held. 

Spectrum News' Evan Koslof and the Associated Press contributed to this report.