WASHINGTON – A senior Trump administration official says the U.S. Department of Education is weighing whether to allow states to use federal grants earmarked for academic enrichment to purchase guns for schools.

The official told the Associated Press on Thursday that the agency is reviewing legislation governing the grants to see if the money can be used to procure firearms. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

The plan was first reported by The New York Times.

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing education, decried that idea as “absurd and appalling.”

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, accused Education Secretary Betsy DeVos of lobbying for the National Rifle Association.