The White House says the department would not close completely right now and will retain certain critical functions, like managing federal student loans and Pell grants.

During Trump’s first term, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos sought to dramatically reduce the agency’s budget and asked Congress to bundle all K-12 funding into block grants that give states more flexibility in how they spend federal money. That move was rejected, with pushback from some Republicans.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday calling for the dismantling of the U.S. Education Department.