For more than four decades, Eagle Forum and the conservative movement have called for the Department of Education to be abolished. Since its opening in 1979, radical teachers unions, and leftist politicians have used this agency to push their political ideology into America’s classroom and overstep states’ rights. Young minds have been poisoned, parents’ rights have been eroded and test scores have failed to improve. The pandemic allowed parents to see exactly what their kids were (and sadly were not) learning for the first time in years. In response, they showed up at school board meetings to demand changes in the education system. President Donald Trump has been fulfilling his promises to make American education great again in recent weeks.
Last week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released their latest results, and they are jarring. NAEP found that 70% of 8th graders were below proficient in reading and 72% in math. Among 4th graders, 40% could not meet the basic reading proficiency levels. They cite a number of reasons this has occurred including school shutdowns during the pandemic, high rates of absenteeism, and mental health issues. When schools spend billions on mental health curriculums, programs, and professionals, and the result is failing mental health and failing academics, something needs to change!
President Trump has responded to this education crisis. He issued an executive order to end the radical indoctrination in K-12 schools. This ensures that instead of schools teaching that certain people or races are superior to others or that people can choose their genders, the Secretary of Education will create strategies to implement a rigorous education and “patriotic admiration for our Nation” in the classroom. At the same time, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Secretary of Education to examine how discretionary federal funding can be used by the states to expand parental choice.
One of President Trump’s campaign promises was to shut down the Department of Education. In a video outlining ten principles of his education plan, he said,
One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states. We want them to run the education of our children, because they’ll do a much better job of it. You can’t do worse.
This promise may come to fruition sooner than later. Media outlets have reported that President Trump is preparing an executive order to “abolish” the Department of Education. While Congressional action is needed on such an effort, he can require the agency to explore how to eliminate, reform, or move certain programs to the states or other agencies and urge lawmakers to follow through.
This idea has a lot of support from House and Senate Republicans. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has been a dependable voice against the Department of Education. He has introduced legislation in every Congress to terminate the agency (H.R. 899). Thirty Members have co-sponsored the bill. This year, newly elected Rep. David Rouzer (R-NC) has joined the effort by introducing a similar bill (H.R. 369).
The President will have help from inside the Department of Education as well. He has nominated Linda McMahon to lead the agency and has given her instructions to “put herself out of a job.” McMahon’s confirmation hearing is set to take place on February 13th in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. While we trust President Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, we would like Senators to ask the following questions to ensure she is a great fit:
- Will you stop all federal oversight of curricula such as the Department of Education’s approval of standards?
- Will you ensure that any data that has been collected on students is destroyed and no data will be collected going forward?
- Will you continue to uphold President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), critical race theory (CRT), and gender ideologies in schools and within the Department?
- Will you pull all federal funding from damaging programs such as Head Start, explicit sex education, universal mental health screenings, and distribution of vaccines and birth control within schools?
- Will you uphold parental rights by defending their access to curricula and school policies and insight into their own child’s behaviors in the classroom? Will you demand enforcement of the Protection of Pupil Rights Act (PPRA)?
Education is a key component in our nation’s success, so we are encouraged by the actions of our President. Congress must bolster these executive orders by passing legislation to codify this language. Join us as we continue to work with our lawmakers to make our children’s and grandchildren’s futures brighter!
