Trump admin urges returning education to states, citing $3 trillion of taxes spent and poor proficiency scores

FIRST ON FOX — The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is emphasizing to parents that control over education needs to be returned to the states, citing $3 trillion in spent taxpayer money and national test scores showing that only three in 10 students are proficient in math and reading, a department spokesperson told Fox News Digital Tuesday.

"Despite $3 trillion in taxpayer investment in a federal Department of Education, only three in 10 students are proficient in reading and math. That is exactly why the Trump administration is returning education to the states and putting local leaders and parents back into the driver’s seat," the spokesperson said.

"To deliver this urgent message, Secretary McMahon and key department leaders called into local radio nationwide over the past two weeks, connecting directly with millions of parents to highlight our hard reset to education — from restoring parental rights to empowering states to lead and taking ideology out of higher education."

Education Secretary Linda McMahon vowed earlier this year to dismantle the federal agency when she took office, pledging to hire staff members who would work toward eliminating their respective roles.

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The targeted local radio blitz coincides with McMahon's broader 50-state tour, during which she has spoken directly with families about how K-12 schooling "will be fundamentally different" under the administration's plan to decentralize federal oversight.

"As a mother and grandmother, I know firsthand that we only get one opportunity to educate and help our children reach their full God-given potential. That is exactly why the Trump administration is returning education to the states and ushering in the largest expansion of education freedom in American history," McMahon told Fox News Digital.

"This 50-state tour has reached millions of families across our great nation, emphasizing the vital role parents play in their child’s life – not bureaucrats in Washington."

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The push followed President Donald Trump's back-to-school event at the White House Monday, where he promoted the administration's school choice agenda and reiterated pledges to put parents back in charge.

Speaking alongside McMahon, students, parents and educators in the Rose Garden, Trump argued that despite massive federal outlays, student performance remains unacceptable. and families require more educational options. He also pledged to eliminate what he called "far-left extremism" from classrooms.

As part of that push, the administration highlighted the upcoming Education Freedom Tax Credit. Set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027, the program will allow individual taxpayers to receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit of up to $1,700 for contributions made to approved scholarship-granting organizations.

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The Trump administration announced earlier this year an inter-agency agreement between the Department of Education and the Department of the Treasury, with an official calling it the largest step toward closing the agency.

The agreement entails moving student lending operations from the Department of Education to the Treasury, which will assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted federal student loan debt and providing operational support to the department's efforts to return borrowers to repayment.

This agreement follows nine agency partnerships over the past year as the Department of Education seeks to downsize, shifting power from some of its offices and programs to other federal agencies.

This is part of a broader effort to eliminate the department. McMahon previously said that the agency is merely a "pass through" for federal funding as opposed to controlling curriculum, noting that the agency's role in local curriculum is frequently misunderstood.