President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to make sweeping changes to the nation’s education system, including abolishing the Department of Education and promoting nationwide school choice.
It won’t surprise you to learn that Democrats are appalled at the very idea that not only should states control their own education systems, but that parents should also decide where and how their children are educated.
Education Minister Miguel Cardona weighed in on the matter during an appearance on NBC News In it, he criticized Trump’s planned approach and said that eliminating federal control over education would send a damaging message about the importance of education and could harm vulnerable populations.
“As a parent and as a lifelong educator, I know that this is the wrong message you want to send to the country at this time, that education is not that important,” he said.
Cardona continued, saying that Trump is “promoting a plan that would roll back some of the civil rights protections for students across the country.”
“I think what it will do is it will affect the most vulnerable populations, students who have difficulty with reading and math, students with disabilities, children in rural areas.” As a former state education commissioner, I can tell you that Decisions are made at the state level. The Federal Ministry of Education plays no real role in the curriculum. A lot of the things they claim don’t matter.”
Cardona claimed he was “totally fine with school choice” and that “parents should decide where their children go to school.”
Still, the education secretary said he disagrees with “using public education dollars to fund vouchers at schools that cannot accommodate all students or meet the needs of all students, particularly students with disabilities.”
He criticized Trump’s plan, claiming it aimed to abolish public schools:
“I firmly believe this is a plan to dismantle public education. It’s a plan to privatize, if you will, commercialize K-12 education, like they tried to do with for-profit colleges, which turned out to be a disaster. So public education cannot be bought.”
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on President-elect Donald Trump’s stance on school choice
“As a parent and as a lifelong educator, I know that this is the wrong message you want to send to the country at this time, that education is not that important.” pic.twitter.com/1ECywqzrzZ
—Jeff Charles, Donis St. Louis. Bernard🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) December 11, 2024
Still, school choice has plenty of support – especially at the state level. In Tennessee, Republican Gov. Bill Lee and his allies are pushing for the Education Freedom Act of 2025, which would give parents over $7,000 in education savings accounts that can be used for a variety of education-related expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring, and more .
TN focuses on education savings accounts pic.twitter.com/DAD9ZJGwTv
— 🥷🦅Austin Petersen 🇺🇲🥋 (@AP4Liberty) December 4, 2024
Other states such as Texas, Kentucky, Colorado and Nebraska are also expected to try to pass comprehensive school choice laws next year. The school choice movement is preparing to battle not only Democratic lawmakers, but some Republicans as well.
Cardona’s arguments are common ones used by people who want the government to make educational decisions for all children, rather than leaving that responsibility to parents. They aim to ensure that the state maintains control over education and gives as little power as possible to parents whose children are affected by the government’s many failings.
People like Cardona argue that ending government control over education would harm vulnerable populations while undermining civil rights protections. However, like most subjects, education is better managed locally. Federal involvement typically creates more problems than solutions and creates bureaucratic inefficiencies that hinder progress.
As Cardona admitted, schools create their own curricula, meaning state oversight is an unnecessary redundancy. Furthermore, the federal government exercises more control than the minister acknowledges, as it can apply its financial resources to force states to comply with its policies. In fact, the recent Title IX dispute over allowing trans-identified men to participate in women’s sports is a prime example of the influence the federal government has over the states when it comes to education.
If Trump and state governments succeed in giving parents more control over education, then it will be a sign that America is making progress in freeing people from government control, hence the more authoritarian ones elements are so worried. Hopefully freedom will win the education debate.
