The Push to Return Education Power to the States

During his 2024 presidential campaign, President Trump repeatedly promised to close the Department of Education and return greater control over education to the states. This has long been a conservative view ever since the creation of the department by the Carter administration in 1979. Reagan referred to the department as “President Carter’s bureaucratic boondoggle.” The federal interference on education is another example of unnecessary bureaucracy, spending, and waste. 

The Trump administration is rightfully working hard to stop it as promised. The department has cut down staff by more than half from 4,200 to 2,000, moved over 130 programs to other agencies by signing 14 interagency agreements, announced plans to vacate the sparsely populated Lyndon Baines Johnson Building to make way for the Department of Energy, and reduced spending by 87%. These actions mark a significant step toward shrinking the federal education bureaucracy and returning greater authority to states, local communities, and parents.

Increased scrutiny of programs vulnerable to fraud, abuse, and waste has also helped bring spending down to its lowest level since the department’s creation. The department has canceled $226 million in wasteful and ideological grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program, whose centers promoted race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology. It also terminated $33 million in grants to Equity Assistance Centers that supported DEI training. At the same time, the department has shifted grant priorities away from DEI-focused initiatives and toward core academic subjects. Together, these changes reflect a broader effort to direct federal education dollars toward programs that deliver measurable benefits for students rather than sustain unnecessary administrative or ideological spending.

President Trump is taking crucial steps to address the ever-expanding federal bureaucracy, and giving power back to states for education is one of the most important. States and local communities are closer to the students they serve and better understand their needs, values, and challenges. A one-size-fits-all approach from Washington cannot account for the differences between a rural district in Montana and an urban district in New York. This is especially true in the teaching of civics and history. States are better positioned to ensure students learn the foundations of American government, the Constitution, and their own state histories and institutions, while giving parents a stronger voice in what their children are taught. Under decades of federal involvement, student performance in these subjects has not improved; in 2022, the Nation’s Report Card recorded declines in eighth-grade U.S. history and civics scores. Several states have already taken the lead by requiring students to pass a civics exam before graduating, showing that states are willing and able to set high standards without direction from Washington.

Efforts to dismantle the Department of Education represent the fulfillment of a promise conservatives have made since Ronald Reagan. By reducing staff, transferring programs to other agencies, and cutting wasteful and ideological spending, the administration is shrinking a bureaucracy that has grown for more than four decades without delivering better results for students. Returning authority to states, local communities, and parents will allow education to be shaped by those who know their children best. A smaller federal role is not a retreat from education, but a renewed trust in the people and communities closest to the classroom.