(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is considering an executive order to abolish the Department of Education, the first step in fulfilling a campaign promise to limit the federal government’s power in education.

Multiple news outlets have reported, citing anonymous sources, that the Trump administration is preparing executive orders to close the federal agency. The Wall Street Journal, CNN and Politico have reported on the Trump administration’s plans to close the Department.

According to those outlets, sources said the order would ask the education secretary to submit a plan for the department’s closure – including delegating essential responsibilities to other agencies – and calling on Congress to finalize the agency’s abolition.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the plan would “shut down all functions of the agency that aren’t written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments,” according to anonymous sources.

“The order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish the department,” the sources said, according to the Journal.

Politico reported on Monday that Trump’s pick for education secretary, Linda McMahon, has not yet been scheduled for a confirmation hearing, which could become complicated by the executive order.

Unnamed sources told Politico that the administration would likely wait until after McMahon’s confirmation hearings to release the executive order.

This story first published at Chalkboard News which, like The Center Square, is published by the Franklin News Foundation