There was reportedly concern about the amount of blowback the plan would receive.
Education in the United States has been rolling along with a federal department devoted to education since 1979. That is when the government's smallest agency was first established.
"Since the department was founded, the national graduation rate has gone from 62% to 90%: These are real concrete achievements," former Assistant Secretary of Education Peter Cunningham said.
Cunningham worked under former Education Secretary Arne Duncan. He strongly opposes President Donald Trump's desire to dismantle the department.
The Department of Education is responsible for grant programs for high-poverty school districts and funding for special education and students with disabilities. In addition, the federal agency oversees a $1.6 trillion student loan program.
"The student loan program, which, incidentally, has been notoriously mismanaged, could easily be administered, and probably more appropriately, through Treasury," former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said.
Vallas said, if Trump keeps all the Department of Education programs, they could easily be absorbed by other departments.
Cunningham argues it will be a bureaucratic nightmare to force school districts to deal with several different federal departments.
"If this is about efficiency, is it going to be any more efficient? I don't think it is. I think it's going to be a mess," Cunningham said.
President Trump says closing the Education Department is about returning education to the states, but the federal government funds less than 10% of a local school district's budget.
"It's already back in the states. States set the standards. They choose the curriculum, hire the teachers, run the schools," Cunningham said.
But, Vallas says with past federal mandates, such as the Race to the Top program or the Common Core curriculum, the department has overstepped its boundaries.
"Take it from the superintendent of the largest districts in four different states; they can be really heavy-handed in trying to impose their will," Vallas said.