Washington DC - President Donald Trump signed an order Thursday aimed at "eliminating" the Department of Education, a decades-old goal of the American right, which wants individual states to run schools free from the federal government.

Surrounded by schoolchildren sitting at desks set up in the East Room of the White House, Trump smiled as held up the order after signing it at a special ceremony.

Trump said the order would "begin eliminating the federal Department of Education once and for all."

"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 back to the states where it belongs."

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The Education Department, created in 1979, cannot be shuttered without the approval of Congress – but Trump's order will likely have the power to starve it of funds and staff.

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 have slammed the move.

The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, called it a "tyrannical power grab" and "one of the most destructive and devastating steps Donald Trump has ever taken."

Republican leaders, including governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas, were in the audience for the signing ceremony.

Trump's appointment of McMahon – the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment – to lead the department was widely seen as a sign that its days were numbered.

The president said at the signing ceremony that "hopefully she will be our last secretary of education."