Linda McMahon on Returning Education to States and Reforming the Department of Education

Streamlining the Department of Education

• 🎯 The primary goal is to eliminate bureaucracy within the Department of Education, not necessarily to eliminate the department itself.
• 💡 Programs are being moved to other agencies where they can flourish and operate more efficiently, such as transferring grant programs to the Department of Labor.
• 🛠️ An inter-agency agreement with the Labor Department allows for the transfer of programs like WEOA, leveraging superior technology and improving grant distribution to over 35 states.

Reforming Education Policy

• 🔑 Education is being returned to the states, with a focus on improving student reading proficiency by reintroducing the science of reading in schools.
• 📉 The Department of Education workforce has been reduced by half while increasing efficiency, creating a "lean mean machine."

Addressing Educational Failures

• ⚠️ The COVID-19 pandemic and the distribution of $189 billion in relief funds to K-12 education are seen as a failure, with no measurable improvement in student scores and schools remaining closed.
• 📉 A crisis in education is declared, with only 30% of students reading proficiently across fourth, eighth, and high school seniors.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The importance of parental involvement is highlighted as a key factor in student success, drawing from personal experience as a junior high teacher.

Promoting School Choice

• 🚀 The federal government supports school choice through initiatives like a national school choice program, offering tax credits for donations to scholarship programs.
• 🏫 These scholarships can be used for private schools, charter schools, or public schools, empowering parents to choose the best educational environment for their children.