Good afternoon,
On the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump pledged to shutter the U.S. Department of Education. Moreover, Trump continues to gesture toward getting rid of the agency. Upon announcing his nominee to be Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
However, to do this, President-elect Trump will need the support of Congress. U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced plans to introduce a proposal to abolish the department in 2025. Massie told ABC News, “There’ll be one sentence—only thing that will change is the date: The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026.” Rep. Massie has introduced proposals to eliminate the department since 2017.
This isn’t the first time the department has been on the chopping block. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan supported closing the agency, but Republican lawmakers didn’t have the votes necessary to eliminate it.
Today, President-elect Trump could face the same problem. Even though Republicans control both the U.S. House and Senate after the November elections, they fall short of holding a supermajority in the Senate chamber by seven votes.
As Cato Institute’s Director of Educational Freedom Neal McClusky explained, it’s doubtful that the Trump administration could convince seven Democratic senators to break ranks with their party and support Republican efforts to abolish the department.
Even if Republicans managed to collect the necessary votes, shuttering the agency would be a much larger task today than in the 1980s.
Since its establishment, the department’s appropriation grew from nearly $53.6 billion in 1980 to about $111 billion in 2021 after adjusting for inflation, an increase of 106%. While the Department of Education delivers some funds for K-12 education, most go to higher education. The New York Times reported that “more than 70% of its $224 billion annual budget goes to the federal student aid program.”
However, closing the Education Department wouldn’t eliminate every program or end all federal spending on education. The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke, who wrote the Project 2025 chapter on dissolving the department, argues that federal policymakers should “reform, eliminate, or move the department’s programs and offices to appropriate agencies.”
For instance, she suggested block-granting most funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and moving its administration to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Yet others are worried that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze. The American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) Kevin Kosar explained to The74, “Go ahead, abolish the Department of Education…But if you scatter all of its programs to other departments, you’ve gotten rid of 4,100 people, and you have to hire people in other departments to process those grants and aid applications anyway. So how much juice are you getting from that?”
Plus, some argue that the temptation to use the Department of Education as a cudgel against opponents in deep blue states may prove too great for Trump, as AEI’s Rick Hess pointed out in Education Next. “We’re likely about to see something we’ve never seen before: a Republican Department of Education aggressively and unapologetically exploiting every last bit of its executive authority,” Hess writes.
The president-elect has yet to announce his plans to eliminate federal agencies, large or small. Regardless of the scope of his ambitions, the incoming president and his supporters should anticipate dogged attacks from teacher unions and school districts that support a large federal role in K-12 education. At the end of the day, the agency should pursue policies that are in the best interest of students and their families.
From the States
In other important education and school choice developments across the country, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum called for universal school choice and North Carolina policymakers sent more funds to the state’s private school choice program.
After the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the state’s private school choice program unconstitutional, the Chairman of the Senate Education, Sen. Greg Hembree (R-District 28), is exploring alternatives. Specifically, he aims to introduce a private school choice proposal with different funding mechanisms to circumvent the issues raised by the court.
In North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum called for universal school choice earlier this month in his budget address. Last year, the governor vetoed a school choice proposal because he said the bill didn’t “go far enough.” In his address, Gov. Burgum explained, “This is not about public versus private education. This is about ensuring that every student has what they need to support a pathway to career, college or military readiness. We recommend the Department of Public Instruction develop a program that drives an ESA [education savings account] forward to continue putting North Dakota on the map for serving all students — public, private and homeschool.”
The North Carolina General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto and codified a proposal that sent $95 million to public schools and an additional $463.5 million to the state’s Opportunity Scholarship. According to EdNC, this likely ensures that all children on the program’s waitlist will receive a scholarship.
In Mississippi, House Speaker Jason White (R-District 48) announced plans to introduce a proposal to establish a targeted private school choice program in 2025. The program would provide education savings accounts to students assigned to failing public schools.
What to Watch
New Hampshire policymakers will divvy up education-related proposals by funding and policy.
This year, education-related bills in New Hampshire will be split between two House committees, one focusing on policy and the other on funding. Between 2008 and 2022, the number of education-related bills introduced increased by about 160%, overwhelming committee members. The Speaker of the House decides which committee bills will be sent to.
In January, students can submit applications to Alabama’s new private school scholarship program. Eligible applicants’ families’ income can’t exceed “300% of the federal poverty line for the preceding tax year,” 1819 News reported.
The Latest from Reason Foundation
–The most consequential school choice and education freedom bills of 2024 at Reason Foundation
Reason Foundation tracked 156 bills across 35 states. Twelve of these proposals were signed into law, expanding both private and public school choice for students.
–The most important public school open enrollment laws and proposals of 2024 at Reason Foundation
Three states significantly improved their open enrollment laws this year. These reforms included key changes, such as making public schools free to all students, establishing statewide within-district open enrollment, and improving transparency.
Recommended reading
“Education Should be Handled at the State and Local Level”
Frederick Hess’s interview with Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) at Education Next
“Sending 300 percent more funding to K–12 schools than what is typically allocated by the Department of Education without instituting strong transparency and accountability measures is reckless. Money is not a cure-all, and it is irresponsible to throw more money at a problem and call it a solution.”
Red-State Referendum Defeats Are Cause for Contemplation, Not Bravado
Frederick Hess at Education Next
“For what it’s worth, it strikes me that, in Kentucky and Nebraska, choice advocates forgot what had fueled their recent success. The tough work of navigating legislatures has brought a healthy discipline to choice advocacy. In wooing individual legislators, advocates have focused on program design, showing minimal short-term budget impact on district schools, and delivering the practical, reassuring message, “We just want to give families more options.” The referenda fights lacked that tight focus. The appeals got too online and too abstract.”
School Closures Are Way Down, but Delaying These Hard Choices Makes Things Worse
Chad Aldeman at The74
“Too many district leaders closed their eyes to financial reality and hoped for societywide population trends to suddenly reverse. But there are signs they may be starting to grapple with the harsh budget truth.”