Trump’s allies are taking the first step to wipe out a multi-billion dollar government agency
Republican lawmakers have taken a first step in an effort to close the U.S. Department of Education, a step that President-elect Trump called for during his campaign.
Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act on Thursday.
The bill would eliminate the Department of Education and redistribute all federal programs under the department.
‘The Federal Ministry of Education has never educated a single student, and it is long past time to put an end to this bureaucratic ministry that is doing more harm than good,” Rounds said.
He argued that local control is best when it comes to education.
The proposal comes after Trump called for the department to be closed in October.
“We want federal education dollars to follow the student, instead of maintaining a bloated and radical bureaucracy in Washington, DC,” Trump said.We want to close the federal Ministry of Education.”
He and his MAGA followers have accused the Department of Education of “indoctrinating young people.”
“We will drain the government’s education swamp and end the misuse of your tax dollars to indoctrinate America’s youth with all the things you don’t want our youth to hear,” Trump also said at a rally in September.
Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) has introduced a bill that would eliminate the Department of Education and redistribute some programs to other departments
The modern Department of Education was established with the passage of the Department of Education Organization Act in Congress in 1979.
It combined multiple federal agencies within the government that previously focused on education and launched in 1980.
However, the federal government’s activities in education date back to the 19th century.
The current Department of Education is primarily responsible for administering federal funding for education and administering federal student loans and other financial assistance programs.
The country spends roughly $79 billion a year on primary and secondary education programs. The money is discretionary, meaning it is determined annually by Congress through the appropriations process.
The department’s expenditures make up less than 3 percent of the total federal budget.
In his announcement, Rounds claimed that in the 45 years since its founding, the department has grown with a budget that is 449 percent larger than when it began.
He argued that despite spending $16,000 per student per year, standardized test scores have fallen over the past decade.
Trump called for the closure of the Department of Education during the campaign
The Department of Education budget is appropriated by Congress as discretionary expenditures. About $79 billion is spent annually
“For years I have been working to get rid of the federal Department of Education,” Rounds said. “I am pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision, and I look forward to working with him and the Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives to make this a reality.”
The bill would serve as a roadmap for dismantling the department. It would redirect the programs currently housed there to the Departments of the Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and State.
It is not yet clear whether the efforts will make rapid progress or whether they will gain the necessary support in Congress.
Eliminating the department would leave oversight to the states, which could impact some of the nation’s more vulnerable students, including students with disabilities.
But some experts have warned that in addition to worrying about the dismantling of the Ministry of Education, they are also sounding the alarm about the damage that could be done to programs and oversight if the ministry runs out of money or is slowly strangled from within .
Trump named businesswoman Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment as his choice to lead the Department of Education
Trump has announced that businesswoman and former head of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon is his choice for Secretary of Education.
He called her a fierce advocate who will fight tirelessly for school choice across the country.
The nation’s largest union, the National Education Association, which represents teachers and support staff in public schools, denounced Trump’s selection of McMahon as someone who did not care about the future of his students.
It argued that its ‘public schools’ were not being strengthened, butits only mission is to eliminate the Department of Education and take tax dollars away from public schools.”