President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) want to scrap the U.S. Department of Education. Rounds recently introduced the “Returning Education to Our States Act,” which would shut down the federal agency and transfer key programs to other departments, according to his press release.
The Department of Education was created in 1979 to gather data and offer guidance to schools, but according to Rounds, it’s grown into an oversized, inefficient bureaucracy. He points out that its budget has ballooned by 449% since then, yet despite spending $16,000 per student each year, test scores have been on the decline for the past decade. Rounds also took issue with the Department’s approach, saying it forces states to follow “one-size-fits-all” standards to qualify for funding.
“The federal Department of Education doesn’t teach a single student,” Rounds said. “Local schools and state boards know what’s best—not Washington bureaucrats.” He emphasized the importance of local control, claiming that abolishing the Department would improve education nationwide.
Rounds said he’s eager to work with Trump and the Republican majority in Congress to push the bill forward. His plan redirects programs he considers essential to departments like Interior, Treasury, and Labor.
Under Rounds’ bill, programs would be reassigned to various departments: the Department of the Interior would oversee Native American and Alaska Native education, tribal schools, and Impact Aid; the Department of the Treasury would handle federal student loans and grants, including Pell Grants and Perkins Loans; the Department of Health and Human Services would take charge of special education initiatives like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Helen Keller Center; the Department of Labor would manage career, technical, and adult education programs along with vocational rehabilitation grants; and the Department of State would administer the Fulbright-Hays international education program.
Critics argue that eliminating the Department could disrupt federal student aid and harm schools that rely on that funding. But Rounds sees it as a long-overdue move to shrink government overreach. “This is the roadmap,” he said, confident the GOP can make it happen when they reclaim the Senate.
Trump and Rounds are betting big on local control. Whether this gamble pays off or crashes education funding remains to be seen.
