WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Donald Trump said he wants to abolish the Education Department, and Republican lawmakers say they mostly agree.
The department has a budget of $241 billion and employs more than 4,000 people.
“Let government govern education,” President Trump said at a rally on Sunday.
Republican lawmakers battled the last Education Secretary, Miguel Cardona, over masks in school and diversity policies. The Department of Education also expanded the definition of Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students, but a judge later blocked that rule.
President Trump said states are better suited to manage education funding.
“If you do a great job, you lose your job because you send it back to the states,” President Trump told his nominee for Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon.
Abolishing the Department of Education would require an act of Congress. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill don’t believe they will have the votes to do so.
“At a minimum, we will take power away from the Department of Education in every area we can,” said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee.
Walberg said this also includes transferring authority to other agencies or the states.
“Why are you doing this?” asked MP Melanie Stansbury (DN.M.). “It’s not about actually improving education. It’s not about making America strong. It’s more about taking away basic rights.”
MP Stansbury said abolishing the Department of Education would harm vulnerable students. The Department of Education enforces laws protecting students with disabilities. Federal statistics show that about 7.5 million students, one in seven, attend public schools.
