MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Reaction is coming in after President Trump began the process of shutting down the Department of Education. On Thursday, the president signed an executive order, which is being supported by many governors, including Tennessee's Bill Lee. "This decision will mean that the stat e has more funding," said Gov. Lee. Some Memphians concerned by Trump Department of Education order The President says The U.S. spends "more money per pupil, yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success." Governor Lee agrees those dollars should return to the states. "The federal dollars that have come to the state have come with failure and strings attached, bureaucracy, really. Now those dollars will be freed up to flow to states to use in a way they see best for their children," Gov. Lee said. Some Tennessee educators oppose this move. "I don't know a single educator that sees this as fantastic news. I mean for us in Tennessee, we receive a significant amount of education funding from the federal government, and this is cutting that off," said Kathryn Vaughn, teacher and president of the Tipton County Education Association. "We failed to see when the state takes anything from the federal government that the state called us through its promises to making things better for our children." The Department of Education oversees items like funding for programs, civil rights enforcement, and educational research, among other duties. Vaughn says changes could be harmful to students. 📡 See more breaking news, local news and weather from WREG.com for Memphis and the Mid-South. 📧 Sign up for WREG newsletters and have the latest top stories sent right to your inbox. "Well, we know that 90% of America's children go to public schools and 95% of children with disabilities go to public schools, and this is going to affect them in the time when school districts are looking at their budget for next year, and where cuts could be taking place, where we could be looking at a school year without after school programs. So we could be looking at a school year without summer feed programs, or where we could look at staff shortages and larger class sizes," Vaughn said. Despite the president's claims, fully eliminating the Department of Education would require an act of Congress. Educators like Vaughn hope Congress will block this plan. "I hope that Congress slows us down. I hope that there's a lawsuit somewhere that will slow this down because our children need public schools. America needs public schools and as a teacher, I'm terrified," she said. To advance the executive order, most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes, meaning seven Democrats would need to vote for it along with all Republicans. ...read more read less