I'm going with the New York Times headline and Washington Post article on this one. The New York Times seems to want to make this out to be a surprise criticism of Trump, as does the Post's headline.

The short summary is Rick Perry's DOE proposed something stupid to fulfill a stupid Trump campaign promise, and a department designed by law to be neutral and headed by decidedly non-stupid people nixed it.

Here's a scene to be repeated across the country in the coming decade: