There was never a justification for it legally. "Education" is not a Federill power under Article I Section 8.
You are all correct...
My theory is that Elimination via merging may be a lot easier than killing it off directly.
End result is essentially the same. But optics wise, may be more palatible for many.
Trump doesn’t “kill kids by eliminating education”... he merely reallocates those resources to cut costs and streamline.