During both his 2016 and 2024 campaigns and in his March 2025 Executive Order, President Trump called for shutting down the Department of Education and returning control to the states. Recent legislation voted out of the House Education and Workforce Committee makes no effort to return control to the states. In fact, the legislation will bury the federal education programs deep within the bureaucracy of five other agencies. This effort is worse than having done nothing at all.
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In late July, the House Education and Workforce Committee, led by Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI), passed a set of 10 bills (H.R. 9602-9611) designed to move programs from the Department of Education to other departments, including Labor, Health & Human Services, Treasury, Interior, and State, wholly intact with the same people, the same funding, and the same ineffective rules and regulations.
Heritage Acting Director of the Center for Education Policy Jonathan Butcher recently wrote an Issue Brief in support of these bills, claiming this will “right-size” the Department of Education before closure. He explains:
“These bills would allow… federal programs to continue under other agencies. Instead of eliminating programs, these agreements have allowed federally authorized services to continue…”
But this is not what President Trump promised. The Executive Order that President Trump issued stated this purpose:
“Section 1. Purpose and Policy. Our Nation’s bright future relies on empowered families, engaged communities, and excellent educational opportunities for every child. Unfortunately, the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars — and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support — has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families”
Here, you can see the problem is not described as being the Department of Education. The problem is clearly stated as the federal bureaucracy. Labor, HHS, and other federal agencies are just as bureaucratic and unaccountable. There is no reason to think that these other departments will successfully educate our children when the Department of Education has undoubtedly failed.
Also, from the president’s Executive Order: “Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States.”
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This is what President Trump promised during his campaign. This is what the Executive Order published on March 20, 2025, clearly states. Secretary McMahon did her best to accommodate the order, but only Congress holds statutory authority to enact and change existing law. The Republican-controlled Congress has the authority and responsibility to implement the overwhelmingly popular Trump campaign promise.
On April 7, 2025, Congressman Barry Moore (R-AL) submitted H.R. 2691 to abolish the Department of Education and provide funding directly to the states for education. This bill is what President Trump promised. It’s also in the House Education and Workforce Committee, but this legislation has not been given any committee time.
U.S. Parents Involved in Education has been collaborating with Congressman Moore and members of the House Education Committee. The organization met with Chairman Walberg, Congressmen Joe Wilson (R-SC), Mark Messmer (R-IN), Mary Miller (R-IL), and Burgess Owens (R-UT) or their staff and was making progress in gaining support. Yet all these congressmen signed on to the series of bills that shift and bury the programs into other government departments.
It is unclear why these congressmen, who have been supporting President Trump’s agenda, are failing to deliver on a popular campaign promise. Mary Miller (R-IL) is a member of the Freedom Caucus. Mark Harris promised to “fight for education policies that focus on local control, and maximum flexibility.” Joe Wilson signed on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 2691. And Mark Messmer said, “For decades, government overreach and one-size-fits-all policies in Washington have stifled our education institutions, making it harder for American students to get access to the tools and learning environment they deserve.”
When asked, the official “reason” they cite is “they decided to go a different direction.” Coincidentally, this is the direction proposed and endorsed by The Heritage Foundation in their Project 2025. It doesn’t really matter why at this point. What matters is what happens next.
The time for half measures has passed. The American people elected President Trump and Republican majorities to restore sanity and local control of education. Demand Congress dismantle Washington’s grip on education by supporting H.R. 2691 before another generation of children suffer the consequences of an ever-expanding federal education bureaucracy.
Melanie Kurdys, United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE) Michigan Chapter President, is an accomplished businessperson, educator, researcher, activist, and mother of three adult children and eight grandchildren. Her mathematics degree from the University of Michigan has enabled her to work for great companies like IBM, AT&T, and Arthur Young. She was elected to her local school board and ran for the Michigan State Board of Education in the 2012 election. As a member of the USPIE Board of Directors of and chair of the research committee, Melanie continues to be a volunteer education advocate for parents, teachers, and, importantly, kids.
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