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Home » News » News » Republican Senator Puts Forward Bill to Abolish Department of Education and Return Power to the States
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Republican Senator Puts Forward Bill to Abolish Department of Education and Return Power to the States

Seamus OthotBy Seamus OthotNovember 27, 2024Updated:November 27, 20247 Comments2 Mins Read
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Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) put forward the “Returning Education to Our States Act” on Thursday, a bill to end the Department of Education (DOE) and return control of education to local governments.

[RELATED: Trump Taps WWE Cofounder Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education…]

“The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it’s long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good,” said Sen. Rounds.

“We all know local control is best when it comes to education. Everyone raised in South Dakota can think of a teacher who played a big part in their educational journey. Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C,” he added.

Rounds’ bill would officially abolish the DOE 180 days after it is enacted and transfer some of its “critical programs” to other government departments.

For example, it would transfer control of the Federal Pell Grant program, a program that provides grants to college students, to the Department of the Treasury.

The bill also instructs the Department of the Treasury to issue educational grants to states.

Those states will then be free to use the funds as they each see fit, for any educational purposes.

Rounds introduced his bill just days after President-Elect Donald Trump announced Linda McMahon as his pick to head up the DOE.

“Congratulations to @Linda_McMahon on being tapped as President Trump’s Secretary of Education. I look forward to working with her to end the Dept. of Education….stay tuned,” said Round on X.

Congratulations to @Linda_McMahon on being tapped as President Trump’s Secretary of Education.

I look forward to working with her to end the Dept. of Education….stay tuned! 👀

— Senator Mike Rounds (@SenatorRounds) November 21, 2024

President Trump promised that McMahon would work to return the authority over education to the states and has vowed to abolish the DOE.

BREAKING: In a stunning announcement, Donald Trump just announced he is going to close down the Department of Education. Donald Trump wants to stop our children from getting an education. Retweet so all Americans see this. pic.twitter.com/aXpz7YwSFH

— Democratic Wins Media (@DemocraticWins) September 24, 2024

Republicans have long wanted to dismantle the federal DOE since Democratic President Jimmy Carter established the department in 1979.

It remains to be seen if Trump, with the help of Rounds and a Republican-controlled Senate and House, will be able to abolish the DOE, something the Ronald Reagan administration tried and failed to do.

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Seamus Othot

Seamus Othot is a reporter for The Maine Wire. He grew up in New Hampshire, and graduated from The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, where he was able to spend his time reading the great works of Western Civilization. He can be reached at seamus@themainewire.com

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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="32805 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=32805">7 Comments

  1. sandy on November 27, 2024 7:49 AM

    I remember when first got going and the price of textbooks doubled over night and reading scores have gone down since then.

  2. mark violette on November 27, 2024 8:17 AM

    release the dog

  3. Rooster on November 27, 2024 9:25 AM

    I cannot wait, although in this state so long as Democrats are in charge schools will continue to fail.

  4. C Simms on November 27, 2024 11:33 AM

    Good news, bad news story. Good news.. puts it in the states hands, Bad news… it’ll be in mills state hands.

  5. Just the facts on November 27, 2024 11:40 AM

    The way I understand it mills will not change anything with the existing system. The big change will be that migrants will be guaranteed services for home schooling. Of course this will require the state to buy the migrants homes first.

  6. ME Infidel on November 27, 2024 11:58 AM

    It’s the right move. Unfortunately, we have the Mills-Makin duo here in Maine who are out of touch with reality.

  7. Patriot on November 28, 2024 10:23 AM

    Most of the fed bureaucracy has no foundation in the Constitution. If the fed limited itself to its 17 enumerated powers, we would not need income and other payroll taxes and we would not be $36 trillion in debt!

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