US President Donald Trump signed an order on Thursday aimed at dismantling the Department of Education, a decades-old goal of the American right which wants individual states to run schools free from federal control.

"We're going to shut it down and shut it down as quickly as possible. It's doing us no good," Trump said. "We're going to return education to the states where it belongs."

The Education Department created in 1979 cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval but Trump’s order will likely starve it of funds and staff.

The move honors one of Trump’s campaign promises as well and is one of the most brutal steps taken to overhaul the government. The order directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return education authority to the States.”

Democrats and educators, however, have slammed the move.