In a surprising move, President Trump is expected to shut down the Department of Education. Some Democrats are up in arms about this decision.  This department was created in 1979 as a political favor by President Jimmy Carter to the National Education Association, the biggest teachers' union in the country.  This union has strong ties with the Democratic Party, contributing over 98% of their political donations to Democrats during the 2024 election cycle.

This isn’t a new arrangement.  For the past 30 years, the teachers' union has consistently given over 87% of their funds to Democrat politicians.

It's clear why Democrats are concerned.  Their special relationship with the union could be coming to an end.  Trump has promised to close the Department of Education since the start of his campaign.  He was supported by voters who were tired of the federal government’s involvement in education and wanted more local control.  He won the votes of parents by a large margin.

Shutting down the Education Department and redistributing its budget to the states would allow for more local control.  This means states could spend education dollars as they see fit.  This could be fantastic for states that respect the rights of parents to direct their children’s education.  However, this could be a problem in states like New York, where politicians might use the money to undermine school choice.

The president acknowledged this potential issue.  He mentioned that while some states like Iowa, with school choice for all families, would thrive with more control, others might not do so well.  "You’ll probably have a problem in California, ” he said.  To tackle this problem, any legislation passed by Congress to shut down the Department of Education should include a requirement that a state can only receive block-grant funding from the shuttered department if it has a robust school-choice program.  This requirement would have little (if any) effect on Republican-controlled states, which are already passing bills to empower all families with school choice.  In the past four years, 13 of these states have passed universal school choice policies.

School choice has made significant progress in the past four years, more than in the preceding 40 years.  This plan would give union-controlled lawmakers in blue states an incentive to listen to their actual constituents: parents.  By doing this, Republicans could help Linda McMahon, the next secretary of education, shut down the Department of Education and return education decisions back to parents.

The money saved from shutting down the Department of Education could be used to fund school-choice initiatives.  This could include education savings accounts or scholarships.  The requirement could also stipulate that the federal dollars must be used for school-choice initiatives, or that the state could instead decide on a voucher system.  This would benefit tens of thousands of families.

This plan would give parents more control over their children’s education.  It would also benefit families who want to send their children to better schools.  Education is too important to be left to bureaucrats in distant offices.  This plan could help families get the education they want for their children.

Money Shutdown: Schools' Big Win

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