Get rid of the Education Department. Give power to parents
Long before I was governor of Arkansas or White House press secretary, I came to Washington as a bright-eyed college graduate for my first real job at the Department of Education. I thought I was there to change the world and found myself spending more time changing coffee filters.
But I walked away with one, crystal-clear lesson: it’s time to abolish the federal Department of Education.
I’m a mom of three, so I know that no two kids – not even in the same family – learn the same way. It’s ridiculous, then, to assume that every kid in every community in America would have the same education needs or goals. But that’s exactly the way the Department of Education functions.
EDUCATION SECRETARY SAYS DEPARTMENT TOOK FIRST STEPS TO ELIMINATE ‘BUREAUCRATIC BLOAT’
The quarter-trillion-dollar agency is mostly just a pass-through, handling money on its way from Congress to schools. The problem is that the department can’t help but create thousands of onerous regulations around all that spending. Our states’ education programs are being controlled by nameless federal bureaucrats instead of skilled teachers in our own communities.
Eliminating the department would allow federal dollars to flow freely to our communities – without forcing states to jump through hoops to get it.
President Donald Trump sees that clearly and, in his effort to rein in spending and drain the swamp, has zeroed in on the Department of Education as a prime example of federal overreach and waste. Republicans have been promising to abolish it since President Ronald Reagan, but Trump finally has the mandate to get it done.
Parents have woken up to the inefficiency and lack of accountability in our schools too. The Nation’s Report Card shows that math, science and reading scores are no better than they were 20 years ago, even as per-pupil spending has soared to record levels. Something has to change.
The answer is returning power to states and communities. One of my first acts as Governor was to pass the LEARNS Act, a sweeping overhaul of Arkansas’ education system that raised starting teacher pay from $36,000 a year to $50,000 a year – taking us from 48th in the nation to top five – deployed 120 literacy coaches to schools across the state, and provided universal school choice for every student in the state.
What works in California may not work in Arkansas, and what works for one family may not work for another. That’s why we are putting such a focus on choice: families, not bureaucrats or Zip Codes, should decide where their kids go to school.
We are also getting indoctrination out of our schools, just like Trump is rooting out DEI and anti-American wokeness out of our federal agencies. At a time when our kids are facing an education crisis, we should be focusing on reading, writing and math – not crazy nonsense.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION
When I first took office, I heard the story of a boy named Jack who struggled with learning disabilities and didn’t fit neatly into the one-size-fits-all model Arkansas used to have. His parents hoped their local school district would give Jack the resources he needed, but the opposite happened.
He was bullied. He fell behind academically. He ran away from school once, twice and then a third time. One of Jack’s bullies told him to go die in a ditch and that’s where he was found: alone, soaking wet, sobbing in a ditch.
Because of Education Freedom Accounts, his parents were able to put him in a specialized school, where he’s now thriving. Choice gave Jack not just an opportunity to feel safe, but a pathway to a great future.
When it works correctly, education can put even our most struggling kids on a path to success. But top-down, one-size-fits-all systems will never meet the needs of every child.
It’s time to abolish the Department of Education, return power to the states and empower every parent and student to get the education they need and deserve.