President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order mandating the closing of the US Department of Education (DOE).
The Department of Education, established in 1979, was intended to “support and complement” the educational efforts of the states, whose authority over education is enshrined in the Constitution’s tenth amendment.
In the Executive Order, President Trump directs Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps” to ensure the DOE winds down while simultaneously delivering any DOE services, programs, and benefits on which Americans rely.
Conservatives have persistently criticized DOE for facilitating wasteful spending, worsening education outcomes, imposing burdensome education regulations on the states, and manipulating students and schools to channel progressive ideology.
According to the White House, DOE has spent over $3 trillion on education initiatives since its inception in 1979.
However, despite the DOE’s mammoth expenditures, standardized National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores reveal pupils’ worsening performance on essential topics like mathematics and reading.
Additionally, the DOE’s regulations reportedly caused nearly $3.9 billion in costs and 4,239,530 paperwork hours across the country.
Secretary Linda McMahon hailed Trump’s order, claiming that transferring more power over education to state governments was the right move.
“Education is fundamentally a state responsibility,” said McMahon. “Instead of filtering resources through layers of federal red tape, we will empower states to take charge and advocate for and implement what is best for students, families, and educators in their communities.”
McMahon additionally emphasized that closing the DOE would not mean siphoning off DOE funds from students and schools relying on them.
“We will continue to support K-12 students, students with special needs, college student borrowers, and others who rely on essential programs,” assured McMahon.
Eradicating the DOE is one of the many campaign promises that Trump has quickly acted on during his return to the White House.
“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington D.C., we’re going to close it up, all those buildings all over the place and with people who many times hate our children, we’re going to send it all back to the states,” said Trump in a campaign video.
