Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Empowers Parents, States, and Communities to Improve Education Outcomes

 DISMANTLING BUREAUCRACY AND EMPOWERING FAMILIES: Federal government control of education has failed students, parents, and teachers.

  • Since its relatively recent inception in 1979, the Department of Education, which does not directly educate students, has spent over $3 trillion without improving student achievement as measured by standardized National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores.
    • Federal taxpayers spent around $200 billion in additional education funding during COVID-19, which, given the substantial learning loss that resulted, typifies the ineffectiveness of the current federally driven model.
  • Mathematics and reading scores are down in public schools, despite per-pupil spending having increased by more than 245% since the 1970s, indicating that more spending does not mean better education.
    • 13-year-olds’ mathematics scores are the lowest they have been in decades.
    • 13-year-olds’ reading scores are the lowest since testing began over 30 years ago.
    • Low-performing students are falling further behind.
    • In 2023, 13 Baltimore, Maryland, high schools had zero students who tested proficient in mathematics.
  • The Department of Education burdens schools with regulations and paperwork.
    • Its “Dear Colleague” letters have forced schools to redirect resources toward complying with ideological initiatives, which diverts staff time and attention away from schools’ primary role of teaching.
    • Biden’s Department of Education added rules that imposed nearly $3.9 billion in costs and 4,239,530 paperwork hours.
  • Taxpayers will no longer be burdened with tens of billions of dollars wasted on progressive social experiments and obsolete programs.
    • Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Education wasted more than $1 billion in grants focused on entrenching radical ideologies in education.
    • Biden’s Department of Education rewrote Title IX rules to expand the definition of “sex” discrimination to include “gender identity.”
    • The Trump Administration recently canceled $226 million in grants under the Comprehensive Centers Program that forced radical agendas onto states and systems, including race-based discrimination and gender identity ideology.
  • Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Empowers Parents, States, and Communities to Improve Education Outcomes – ]