The federal government has spent over $3 trillion on education since 1979, yet American students remain shockingly unprepared for the modern world. The data paint an undeniable picture of failure: more than 60% of fourth graders and 74% of eighth graders are not proficient in math, while 70% of fourth and eighth graders fall below proficiency in reading. Worse still, nearly 40% of fourth graders cannot even meet the most basic reading benchmarks. These grim statistics are compounded by America’s dismal performance on the world stage—U.S. students now rank 28th out of 37 OECD nations in mathematics, despite the fact that America spends more per pupil than almost every other developed nation.
For decades, the Department of Education (DOE) has expanded its reach, ballooning into a bloated bureaucracy that does little beyond imposing federal mandates, increasing paperwork, and diverting funds from classrooms into administrative overhead. As spending has skyrocketed—per-pupil expenditures rising over 245% since 1979—student achievement has remained stagnant or declined. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores reveal that math and reading performance among 17-year-olds is virtually unchanged since the early 1970s, despite the massive influx of federal dollars. In other words, trillions have been spent for no discernible improvement. If education spending were the key to success, American students should be leading the world. Instead, they are falling further behind.
President Donald J. Trump has recognized the urgent need to break free from this cycle of inefficiency and failure. His signing of an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education and return control to the states is not just an act of administrative restructuring—it is a moral imperative. By dismantling the federal education bureaucracy, Trump is ensuring that resources flow directly to students and teachers, rather than being siphoned off by distant bureaucrats who have failed America’s children for nearly half a century.
Opponents of Trump’s decision argue that eliminating the DOE will create chaos, but the reality is quite the opposite. The Constitution never granted the federal government control over education; historically, states and local communities have always been best positioned to address the unique needs of their students. In fact, some of the highest-performing education systems in the world—such as Finland and Switzerland—are highly decentralized, allowing local decision-making to drive results. America must return to this model of state and local governance to foster innovation, competition, and accountability.
Moreover, research overwhelmingly supports the idea that decentralized education models, such as school choice, charter schools, and voucher programs, produce better results. For example, charter school students gain an average of 16 additional days of learning in reading and six extra days in math per year compared to their public-school peers. School choice initiatives have similarly been shown to increase high school graduation rates and improve college enrollment outcomes, particularly for low-income students. These policies empower parents and teachers rather than federal bureaucrats—precisely the philosophy behind Trump’s executive order.
Contrast this with the DOE’s long history of failures. Even the Department’s own flagship programs, such as Title I funding for low-income schools, have shown little to no measurable impact on student achievement. A federal study on the effectiveness of School Improvement Grants—one of the DOE’s most expensive interventions—found that after spending $7 billion, the program yielded no significant difference in test scores, graduation rates, or college enrollment compared to schools that did not receive the funding. This is not an isolated case; it is emblematic of a bureaucratic black hole where tax dollars disappear with nothing to show for them.
President Trump’s approach is not simply about cutting waste—it is about fundamentally rethinking education in America. The DOE has failed not just in academics but in fostering ideological conformity at the expense of educational rigor. Recent years have seen an explosion of politicized curricula, where social activism has supplanted core competencies like math, science, and history. Returning control to the states allows communities to prioritize education that aligns with their values and prepares students for the workforce rather than ideological indoctrination.
Furthermore, eliminating the DOE will mean fewer onerous federal regulations dictating how teachers operate in their own classrooms. Educators often report that they spend more time complying with federal paperwork than actually teaching students. The administrative burden placed on schools by federal mandates—often amounting to millions of hours of compliance work—is a massive drain on resources and morale. Trump’s executive order will remove these shackles and restore autonomy to local educators who understand their students’ needs far better than Washington bureaucrats.
America cannot afford to continue down this path of stagnation, waste, and mediocrity. The evidence is clear: federal control has failed, and continued bureaucratic expansion will only deepen our education crisis. Trump’s decision to eliminate the DOE is not just fiscally responsible—it is the bold, necessary action needed to rescue American education. By shifting power back to states, schools, teachers, and parents, his administration is making a historic investment in educational excellence—one that ensures America’s children are no longer shackled by a broken, bureaucratic system but instead equipped to compete, innovate, and thrive in the 21st century.
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