In his 2024 campaign President Trump said he wanted to shut down the Department of Education. Created in 1979, the Department of Education has spent many billions of dollars and imposed numerous “reforms” on America’s schools. A result has been a continuing decline in American students’ academic performance.
In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for eliminating the Department of Education. Since then, Education Secretary Linda McMahon has worked on transferring some Education Department activities to other agencies. For example, it has been announced that some activities of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is involved in federal K-12 education programs, will be moved to the Labor Department. While these changes can reduce the power and reach of the Education Department, they do not ensure a reduction of the federal government’s role in education.
The appropriations bill that President Trump signed into law last week indicates he has given up on ending the Department of Education. The bill, which was first approved by the Republican-majority House and Senate, contains a provision requiring the Education Department to “support staffing levels necessary to fulfill its statutory responsibilities including carrying out programs, projects, and activities.” Another provision prohibits the Education Department from transferring funds to other government agencies.
The bill also increases the Education Department’s budget. Increasing the budget of an unconstitutional Cabinet department is never a good idea, but it is especially bad when the federal debt is increasing by trillions of dollars a year. If President Trump and the other Republicans who have said they want the Education Department shut down are not going to even attempt to shut it down, they could at least reduce its funding.
It is clear that shutting down the Department of Education will require a sustained effort by Americans fed up with spending billions to produce a subpar educational system. Pressure needs to be put on lawmakers to restore control over education to states, local communities, and parents.
School choice week was the week before President Trump signed the bill providing funding to the Education Department. Programs giving parents control over their children’s education — such as Education Savings Accounts — continue to grow in popularity as do alternatives to public schools such as private schools and homeschooling.
Private schools and homeschooling received a boost from the “Big Beautiful Bill” providing tax credits for scholarships for private school tuition and home school expenses.
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The curriculum is designed to be self-taught, with students helping, and learning from, each other via online forums. Starting in the fourth grade, students are required to write at least one essay a week. Students also take a course in public speaking.
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