Can Trump Dismantle the Department of Education?

Legally, no. Practically/functionally, yes, since nobody's actually going to stop him.
- If we organize we can stop him. They want you to believe we’re powerless but it’s not true.
  
  Even the actual congressmen themselves tried to stop them by organizing with people outside of the Treasury and USAID and got told off at the door.
  It would take tens of millions of people calling their senators, showing up in DC, and then some.
  
  We couldn't even organize to get people to vote, and in most places you could do it by mail which meant 15 minutes on a computer to get the ballot sent right to your home where you could fill it out and return it by putting it back in your mailbox. Voting in person was even easier than that! We are powerless because the masses are apathetic.

Ask yourself this question: "Are you willing to do anything to stop him?". Because that's the question Trump is essentially asking everybody else, and those who have the authority to do anything to stop him are largely responding by saying "No." As long as that remains true, Trump can do what he wants.
And even if he "can't" do it.....what's stopping Trump from just firing all of the workers, leaving the department with zero employees actually doing the work? Trump has the power to do that, which accomplishes the same thing with a few extra steps.
So basically, yes. Trump can dismantle the Department of Education, USAID, and any other agency he wants.

Oh, the theater. Trump’s executive order to “dismantle” the DoE is peak political performance art. Congress built this bloated department, and only Congress can nuke it—but why let constitutional trivia ruin a good headline? Please. This isn’t about small government; it’s about rerouting power through different pipelines. Project 2025 wants to scatter education programs like confetti across agencies, because nothing says efficiency like turning one dumpster fire into twelve.
Meanwhile, states already run schools on local taxes and propaganda-approved curricula. But sure, let’s pretend dismantling a symbolic 8% federal contribution will “restore parental rights.” Both sides just love burning taxpayer cash on administrative hydras while screaming about liberty. Democracy™️: where the house always wins, and you’re always the mark.
- It’s also the student aid programs and a ton of other university-level stuff. Maybe the student aid programs can be shifted to Treasury or something but the Education Department doesn’t really do much K-12 policy stuff since, as you said, that’s a state and local thing. It’s mostly just non-controversial grants to states.
  Maybe it doesn’t need to be a whole department but turning into an agency under another department isn’t going to save much money, if any. It’s just moving things around on an org chart.
  
  Ah, but here’s the rub: shifting student aid programs to Treasury or some other bureaucratic abyss isn’t reform—it’s rebranding. The Education Department might be a bloated relic, but moving its functions around doesn’t eliminate waste; it just hides it under a new rug.
  And let’s not pretend this is about saving money. Federal spending is a black hole where efficiency goes to die. The real play here is power consolidation: breaking one department into scattered fiefdoms so no one notices when the screws tighten.
  Sure, K-12 is state-run on paper, but federal grants come with strings thicker than steel cables. This isn’t decentralization; it’s sleight of hand, and the taxpayers are left holding the bag—again.
  
  Wait a sec, Dept of Ed is responsible for distributing all the funds for Title 1`schools(Schools where the majority of students are below the national poverty line), if they destroy the DoE, who takes on that role…and do we trust Trump and Musk to distribute those funds fairly knowing that the majority of poor people are black/racial minorities?
  I think this is really about cutting off funding if you ask me…
  
  It’s just moving things around on an org chart.
  Judging by every new CEO I've had, this is the play.
  Do something largely inconsequential but visible, like a reorg.
  Wait for anything good to happen as it inevitably always does, since every nuance is measured somewhere.
  Claim the something good was a direct result of your action, even though in reality you likely only marginally slowed down something that was going to happen anyway.
  Claim bonus from board for accomplishment.

Anything can happen so long as the US government is surrounded and filled with morons that want to hand supreme power to one leader and stand back and watch the entire thing burn down.

If Federal Marshall's are following his orders, and the courts either refuse to rule against him, or they do rule against him and he decides to ignore them, he can do just about anything he pleases, who is there to stop him?
The first time Trump ignores a direct court order, and uses the Federal Marshalls to perform their first illegal act, it's the end of the Republic.