US President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to begin the process of shutting down the Department of Education, stating that while essential programs like Pell Grants and Title I funding for children with disabilities would be preserved and reassigned to other agencies, the overall department had failed to improve education despite massive
spending increases over the past four decades.
“Today we take a very historic action that was 45 years in the making. I will sign an executive order to begin eliminating the Federal Department of Education once in for all. Democrats know it’s right. I hope they’re going to be voting for it because ultimately it may come before them. We have to get our children educated. We’re not doing well with the education in this country and we haven’t for a long time.
It’s been amazing how popular this has been- everybody says it. Republicans and Democrats have said it they’re all saying it also with us are some terrific,” he said.
Trump claimed that when Former US President Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education, it was opposed by his cabinet and the Republicans.
“When President Carter created the federal education department in 1979, it was opposed by members of his cabinet as well as the American Federation of Teachers the New York Times editorial board and the famed Democrat Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan,” he said.
Trump said that historically, the opposition makes sense. As per the White House, the US Department of Education has spent USD 3 plus trillion since 1979. Since then, per-pupil spending has increased by more than 245 per cent– with virtually nothing to show for it.
White House data shows that Math and reading scores for 13-yearolds are at the lowest level in decades. Six in ten fourth graders and nearly three-quarters of eighth graders are not proficient in math.
Seven in ten fourth and eighth graders are not proficient in reading, while 40 per cent of fourth-grade students don’t even meet basic reading levels. Standardized test scores have remained flat for decades. US students rank 28 out of 37 OECD member countries in math.
“History has proven them right. After 45 years the United States spends more money on education by far than any other country and spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country and it’s not even close but yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success. We are at the bottom of the list and we’ve been there for a long time. 70 per cent of eighth graders are not proficient in either reading or math. 40 per cent of fourth graders lack even basic reading skills. Our Public elementary and middle schools score worse in reading today than when the department opened by a lot,” he said.
