Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s Education secretary during his first term, called for the Education Department to be scrapped in an op-ed for The Free Press on Thursday.
“I can understand how that idea, which President Donald Trump is committed to advancing, might sound a bit radical,” DeVos said.
“But having spent four years on the inside as secretary of education, struggling to get the department’s bureaucracy to make even the smallest changes to put the needs of students first, I can say conclusively that American students will be better off without,” she added.
The former secretary said the goal of the department was to close the gap between higher and lower performing students, but that the recent scores on the Nation’s Report Card showed the opposite is happening.
The recently released National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showed the gaps have grown between highest and lowest performing students in both reading and math.
“Nothing could be more important to our success as a nation than having well-educated citizens. But don’t be fooled by the name: the Department of Education has almost nothing to do with actually educating anyone,” DeVos said.
The op-ed comes as Trump has said he would love to use executive action to eliminate the agency and expects Linda McMahon, his pick for Education secretary, to put herself “out of a job” if confirmed after her hearing next Thursday.
Only Congress has the authority to eliminate the department completely.
DeVos railed against the “bureaucracy” and “political agendas” inside the Department of Education, pointing to the strings and red tape the agency gives states and schools when they take federal funding.
“So what does it do? It shuffles money around; adds unnecessary requirements and political agendas via its grants; and then passes the buck when it comes time to assess if any of that adds value,” DeVos said.
Congressional Democrats sent a letter to the department on Thursday demanding answers by Friday around moves the administration is taking to weaken the agency.
“We will not stand by and allow the impact that dismantling the Department of Education would have on the nation’s students, parents, borrowers, educators, and communities,” they said.
