WASHINGTON — One day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department, he announced new homes for some of its most critical functions.

The Small Business Administration will handle the federal student loan program, and the Department Health and Human Services will now oversee special needs and nutrition programs, Trump said.

What You Need To Know

  • One day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Education Department, Trump announced new homes for some of its most critical functions

  • The Small Business Administration will handle the federal student loan program

  • Health and Human Services will oversee special needs and nutrition programs

  • Trump said the tens of thousands of student loans the Department of Education currently manages will be reassigned to the Small Business Administration immediately

“These two elements will be taken out of the Department of Education, and then all we have to do is get the students to get guidance from the people that love them and cherish them, including their parents,” Trump said during an Oval Office event Friday. 

He said parents being “totally involved in their children’s education, along with the boards and the governors and the states, is going to be a great situation,” adding that he thinks there will be “tremendous results” in a few years and that he hopes to be around to see it.

He cited Norway, Sweden and Denmark as having great student achievement results, and said Iowa, Indiana and Idaho “run so well.”

According to U.S. News & World Report, Denmark has the most well-developed public education system in the world. Sweden ranks second and Norway is seventh. The United States ranks 12th.

As a result of changes to the Education Department, American students will have a better education than they have now at half the cost, the president predicted. 

Trump said the tens of thousands of student loans the Department of Education currently manages will be reassigned to the Small Business Administration immediately.

The announcement comes one day after he signed an executive order that said the Education Department lacked the staff to oversee $1.6 trillion in student loans and “must return bank functions to an entity equipped to serve America’s students.” 

On Thursday, Trump said his administration will close the Education Department beyond its “core necessities” and preserve its responsibilities for Title I funding for low-income schools, Pell grants and money for children with disabilities.

The Small Business Administration is led by Kelly Loeffler, a former senator from Georgia. Health and Human Services is headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.