A guide to what the U.S. Education Department does (and doesn't) do

Over and over, President Donald Trump and his colleagues have pointed to the U.S. Education Department as a poster child for government overreach. In fact, Republicans have been calling for the department's dissolution ever since its birth.

That effort reached a new level this week, as the president began exploring dramatic cuts to programs and staff at the department, including an executive action shuttering programs that are not protected by law and calling on Congress to close the department entirely.