(The Center Square) – President-elect Donald Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and one of his supporters in the U.S. Senate recently filed a bill to make it happen.
U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., recently filed a bill titled the “Returning Education to Our States Act.” His bill would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and redistribute any “critical federal programs” to other departments, according to a press release from his office.
Created in 1979, the Federal Department of Education was founded to collect data and advise schools on best practices, the release said. However, its role since then has changed.
“In the 45 years since then, it has grown into an oversized bureaucracy with a budget that’s 449% larger than it was at its founding,” the release said. “Despite the Department spending $16,000 per student per year, standardized test scores have been dropping over the past ten years, further displaying the Department’s ineffectiveness on the quality of education for American students. Any grants or funding from the Department are only given to states and educational institutions in exchange for adopting the one-size-fits-all standards put forth by the Department.”
Rounds called the federal Department of Education harmful and argued the country would have better education without it.
“The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it’s long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good,” Rounds said in the release. “We all know local control is best when it comes to education. Everyone raised in South Dakota can think of a teacher who played a big part in their educational journey. Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”
Rounds added that he looks forward to working with Republicans in Congress in hopes of making it happen once the party takes back control of the U.S. Senate next year.
“For years, I’ve worked toward removing the federal Department of Education,” Rounds said in the release. “I’m pleased that President-elect Trump shares this vision, and I’m excited to work with him and Republican majorities in the Senate and House to make this a reality. This legislation is a roadmap to eliminating the federal Department of Education by practically rehoming these federal programs in the departments where they belong, which will be critical as we move into next year.”
Critics have argued that abolishing the Department of Education would make federal student aid more difficult to get and put certain schools that use federal aid as an outsized portion of their budgets in danger of closing.
The bill Rounds filed would redirect programs he sees as vital to the Departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor, and State.
Under his bill, the Department of the Interior would manage the following programs, according to the release: Native American-Serving Institutions Programs, Alaska Native Education Equity Program, American Indian Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program, Indian Education Formula Grants and National Activities, Native American and Alaska Native Children in School Program, Native Hawaiian Education, Special Programs for Indian Children, Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Career and Technical Education Program, and Impact Aid Programs.
Similarly, the Department of the Treasury would get these programs, the release said: William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program, Federal Family Education Loan Program, Federal Perkins Loan Program, Federal Pell Grant Program, Health Education Assistance Loan Program, and the Education Sciences Reform Act.
Plus, the Department of Health and Human Services would manage the following, the release said: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, American Printing House for the Blind, Helen Keller Center for Deaf/Blind Youth and Adults, Federal Real Property Assistance Program, and Special Education Grants.
Also, the Department of Labor would manage: All Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education programs, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Randolph Sheppard Vending Facility Program, and Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants, according to the release.
And the Department of State would manage the Fulbright-Hays Program under this bill.
One can read the bill here.
