As President Donald Trump moves to downsize and eventually dismantle the Department of Education, an expert in contact with White House stakeholders assured that the department’s programs, including funding, student loans and civil rights protections, will continue.

“They want to make sure, especially with things like Title I schools for disadvantaged students, and high poverty areas to civil rights protections for girls in sports, to race equality in education through Title Six will continue to be enforced through the federal Department of Education until and unless those burdens, those responsibilities, can be shifted to other departments, and that would take place by congressional action,” Sarah Parshall Perry, top legal expert at Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Trump signed a long-anticipated executive order Thursday to do away with the Education Department and directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to initiate the shutdown process and transfer key functions, such as Pell Grants and Title I funding, to other federal agencies.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SIGNIFICANTLY DISMANTLED IN NEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER

Perry said Thursday’s order “is going to be the first step in a very long, consistent, labor-intensive process to be able to continue the work of downsizing.”

“Which is exactly what we’ve seen the Department of Education already do, but also specifically continue enforcing civil rights and financial aid responsibility through the federal government until those particular duties are passed to other agencies,” she said.

For instance, Perry said, civil rights enforcement would shift to the Department of Justice, while student loan processes would be handled by the Department of the Treasury.

“They fully understand, and this is gratifying to hear that the White House has to work with Congress to offload the full responsibilities to other agencies and to ultimately unwind the Department of Education,” she added.

INJUNCTION LIFTED ON TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDERS SLASHING FEDERAL DEI SUPPORT

President Donald Trump has tapped Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education. (Reuters)

Perry said the initial cuts so far within the agency have been narrowly focused on slashing critical race theory and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, in line with Trump’s other executive orders.

“But the only two provisions in the executive order are taking legal steps to continue narrowing the agency’s focus and continuing to enforce civil rights and administer ongoing federal financial programs, because those duties cannot be offloaded to other agencies without shifting the burden by congressional action,” she said.

Students attending college or private schools with student loans or Pell grants will continue to receive their federal funding under Trump’s order. Perry said there is “a misconception” that schools would be forced to close or raise taxes due to budget shortfalls caused by downsizing the department, but “federal taxpayer spending actually makes up less than 10% per pupil funding in the state, so the remaining amount is generally split between local and state taxpayers, not federal taxpayers.”

Since its establishment in 1979, the Education Department’s budget has grown from approximately $14 billion to about $268 billion in Fiscal Year 2024, accounting for 4% of total federal spending, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Prior to the department’s creation, federal student loans were administered through the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, established in 1965 under the Higher Education Act. This program involved the federal government guaranteeing loans provided by banks and non-profit lenders to students attending eligible institutions.

SCHOOL CHOICE ACTIVISTS WARN PARENTS ABOUT BLUE STATE’S HOMESCHOOL BILL WITH JAIL-TIME PROVISION

The Department of Education was established by an act of Congress in 1979. (Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Perry said the focus should be on strengthening education at the state and local levels, while ensuring continued federal oversight of student loans, civil rights laws, and Title One funding for underprivileged and low-income students.

“So the federal government is always going to have a responsibility to enforce, apply and sort of interpret and send these particular protections and their financial associations,” Perry said.

She suggested that these federal programs could be separated or “divested” from the Department of Education, meaning the department’s role in administering them can be reduced or transferred to other agencies.

Trump’s executive order fulfills a major campaign promise, aiming to restore local control of education and back school choice amid the ongoing culture war.

There were broad expectations that the widening political divides in America following Donald Trump’s second presidential victory would explode.

But few could have predicted the flash point would be electric cars.

Teslas have been set ablaze with Molotov cocktails, riddled with bullets and defaced with swastikas. Doors and windows at once pristine luxury electric vehicle showrooms are now scrawled with profanity and Nazi symbols.

Teslas, once the darling of alternative energy advocates, are now the unlikely target of political violence. Experts say while the singling out of individual vehicles is unusual, activists focusing ire on a corporation has a long history in America.

No one has been seriously hurt in the incidents, but they have heightened alarm from both law enforcement officials and experts in political extremism about where this is heading.

“We have a continuum of activity, some of which we rightfully tolerate, such as boisterous and passionate protests,” said Brian Levin, a professor emeritus at Cal State San Bernardino and an expert on extremism. “But now we’re getting to another level of this kind of directed arson and violence, which, to be sure, has an intimidation effect.”

The Tesla attacks have been scattered and do not appear to be coordinated. But the one thing they seem to have in common is disdain for Tesla owner Elon Musk and his efforts to fire federal workers and shrink the size of government.

After Las Vegas was hit with a spate of Tesla attacks, Spencer Evans, FBI special agent in charge of the Las Vegas bureau, issued a warning to would-be political vandals.

“Specifically to those who might think that something like this is justifiable or potentially even admirable, we want to let you know it’s a federal crime,” he said. “We will come after you, we will find you, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. I encourage anyone that’s considering something like this to seriously reconsider.”

This isn’t the first time corporations or even car brands have been the target of political protest, and sometimes vandalism.

Protests over Energy Transfer’s construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota drew national attention and thousands of people to months-long encampments in 2016 and 2017. A jury this week awarded damages of more than $660 million to the pipeline company in its lawsuit against Greenpeace over the environmental organization’s role in the protests.

In 2003, activists set fire to a Chevrolet dealership and destroyed or defaced dozens of Hummers and other sport utility vehicles, scrawling many with the word “polluter.” Earth Liberation Front, an association of militant environmentalists, claimed responsibility for the attacks at the time, saying it had been intended to take the profit motive away from the companies responsible for pollution.

The same group was suspected to be involved in a fire that tore through a construction site in San Diego that same year, according to a Times report from 2003.

“Over the last decade ideologically motivated militants from across a spectrum, as well as some unstable and idiosyncratic types, have targeted their broadening attacks not only against traditional, governmental, communication and academic enterprises, but also increasingly against powerful corporate or defense industry targets who they regard as political co-conspirators of their adversaries,” Levin said.

There have been growing concerns about political extremism in the United States in the Trump era, especially after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in an attempt to prevent Congress from certifying election results.

On his first day in office, President Trump granted sweeping pardons or commutations to more than 1,500 people convicted of Jan. 6 offenses. The pardons and now the efforts to protect Tesla have sent out a conflicting message about how the Trump administration will handle targeted political violence, Levin said.

“You can’t have it both ways,” Levin said. “If the Trump administration is going to talk the talk, they need to walk the walk with respect to targeted violence. You can’t just pick and choose which particular ideology you prefer when it comes to having a legal response to acts of targeted violence.”

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi labeled the attacks on Tesla dealerships this week as “nothing short of domestic terrorism.”

Bondi promised to impose severe consequences on those involved in the Tesla attacks, including “those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes.”

While domestic terrorism is defined in federal law, it’s not an official criminal statute that carries a specific penalty. Those arrested in the attacks have so far been charged under other federal statutes that can carry significant jail time.

Under federal statutes, conspiracy and malicious destruction counts each carry a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. A count of possession of an unregistered destructive device is punishable by up to 10 years.

Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said applying terror charges to Tesla attacks is possible, but it’s not how terrorism charges have been filed in the past.

“Americans have not been charged with terrorism because it can be difficult to get inside a criminal defendant’s head and prove why they committed the violent act. It’s much easier if they are a member of or have pledged allegiance to a foreign terrorist organization,” Rahmani said.

It’s not just showrooms that are on alert. A website, Dogequest, allegedly published the personal information of Tesla owners across the United States, raising privacy and safety concerns for those who own the electric vehicles. The website has since been taken down.

Musk has fired back on his social media platform, X, doling out blame for the attacks on Democrats and others.

“Has there ever been such a level of coordinated violence against a peaceful company? I understand not wanting to buy a product, but this is extreme arson and destruction!” Musk wrote on X.

In San Diego, a person wearing dark clothing and a red bandanna around their face sneaked onto the Tesla showroom in Encinitas before 2 a.m. Monday and spray-painted swastikas on eight vehicles and defaced the dealership’s windows with profanity, said San Diego County Sheriff Sgt. Christie Ramirez.

Ramirez said investigators have not made any arrests.

Several dealerships have been defaced with Nazi symbols — an apparent response to the arm gesture Musk made while speaking at a rally celebrating Trump’s inauguration in January. Musk denies the gesture was a Nazi salute.

In Las Vegas, the FBI and Las Vegas metro police launched an investigation this week after vandals threw Molotov cocktails and fired at least three rounds into vehicles at a Tesla Collision Center just a few miles from the Vegas Strip around 2:45 a.m. Tuesday, authorities said.

Several Teslas were engulfed in flames and the word “resist” was spray-painted on building doors, said Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren. A 911 caller reported seeing a person wearing black clothing setting multiple electric vehicles on fire.

At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged in the incident, including two fully engulfed by fire, authorities said.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating a similar incident in Kansas City, Mo., where two Cybertrucks were set ablaze early Tuesday. Authorities say so far there is no connection to the Las Vegas attack.

There have been at least half a dozen similar acts of vandalism at Tesla showrooms across the country in the past several months.

On March 2, someone scrawled the words “NO Musk” in red spray paint on the windows of a Tesla dealership in Owings Mills, Md. A day later, seven Tesla charging stations were set on fire in Littleton, Mass.

In Tigard, Ore., police are investigating after someone opened fire at a Tesla dealership twice in a span of about a week. In the first incident, which occurred March 6, someone fired at least seven rounds — damaging three cars and shattering windows. One bullet went through an office wall and into a computer monitor, according to police.

“Fortunately, this happened overnight when the property was unoccupied,” authorities wrote in a news release.

In Seattle, four Cybertrucks that were parked in a Tesla lot were set ablaze on March 9. In Dedham, Mass., three Teslas were spray-painted with graffiti and their tires were slashed on March 11, police said.

In Lynnwood, Wash., someone spray-painted red swastikas on Cybertrucks that were parked at a Tesla center waiting to be serviced.

Many of the investigations remain ongoing, but at least four people have been charged after allegedly destroying Tesla property.

Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, of Salem, Ore., has been charged federally with illegally possessing an unregistered destructive device after authorities say he allegedly tried to destroy Teslas at a local dealership with Molotov cocktails. Lansky also allegedly fired several rounds into a building and a vehicle at the dealership, according to court records.

In Loveland, Colo., two people have been arrested after attacks on a Tesla dealership. Cooper Jo Frederick, 24, of Fort Collins was charged with using and possessing an explosive, second-degree arson, criminal mischief and attempted criminal felony after police say an incendiary device was ignited and thrown at a Tesla building, landing between two vehicles.

Lucy Grace Nelson, 42, of Lyons, Colo., was charged with a count of malicious destruction of property for allegedly lighting a fire near a Cybertruck at the dealership and writing “Nazi” on a dealership sign, according to court records.

Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, of South Carolina was also charged this month with arson involving property used for interstate commerce after prosecutors allege he spray-painted “F— Trump” and “Long Live Ukraine” in a parking spot used for people charging their vehicles.

Authorities allege he pulled out five Molotov cocktails and threw them at the chargers, damaging the devices. He faces up to 20 years in prison, if convicted, according to prosecutors.

Separately from the violence, peaceful protesters have mobilized around the country at Tesla dealerships.

A group of women calling themselves the “Grandma Brigade” gathered outside the Tesla showroom and service center on Pullman Street in Costa Mesa this month to speak out against Musk’s involvement in the federal government.

“Maybe if we hit back economically we’ll be able to show that the United States can’t be bought for a few million dollars from a rich man,” said Debbie Marsteller, one of the members of the group.

But Marsteller was shocked by the vandalism others have unleashed on the dealerships.

“People putting Nazi swastikas on Tesla cars … it’s absurd to me,” she said. “It doesn’t help our cause.”