Trump’s order on Thursday entitled "Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities," was directed to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, asking her to take necessary steps provided by law to close the department.

“We’re going to shut it down. Return our students to the states that will do a better job," he said at the signing ceremony at the White House, adding that his administration may eventually pursue efforts to get the congressional approval to close the agency.

The directive did not specify the dismantling process though the White House said the department will retain certain critical functions, including federal student loans.

The president has already derided the Education Department that was created in 1979 as wasteful, claiming that it was polluted by liberal ideology. However, he would be needing a legislation from Congress to gut it completely.

Trump’s party colleagues at the Capitol Hill have pledged to introduce a legislation to achieve his goal despite the opposition and warning from Democrats.

“Shutting down the Department of Education will harm millions of children in our nation’s public schools, their families who mostly rely on federal funding in schools and hardworking teachers,” Hakeem Jeffries, the U.S. House minority leader, said in a statement.

The move is part of Trump’s campaign promises to take apart federal agencies that’s been on the target list of conservatives for a long time.

Recently, the U.S. president ordered to gut seven federal agencies, including the one overseeing Voice of America and other government-funded media outlets globally and asked them to submit detailed plans specifying which functions are legally required.

There have also been deep cuts to the Office for Civil Rights and the Institute of Education Sciences, which gather data on the nation’s academic progress.