In an interview on Tuesday, former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos responded to President-elect Donald Trump's plan to eliminate the Department of Education.
DeVos made the remarks in an interview with Fox News.
"President Trump will need to partner with Congress to actually get that done, but there are many steps that can be taken to re-empower states and local communities and importantly, families," DeVos said in the interview about for former president's plan and give power back to the states.
"The bureaucrats at the Department of Education aren't doing the job. They haven't done the job for more than four decades to close achievement gaps, they've only widened," she added.
DeVos then said that education freedom and school choice needs to happen as soon as Trump enters office.
"The [teachers] unions have overplayed their hand in every area. Parents have seen it," DeVos added.
"The Department doesn't really add any value anywhere," she stated, adding that only 9 percent of spending for K-12 comes from the federal government but over 90 percent of the regulation comes from Washington.
"It's not what's best for students, it's what's best for lobbyists," she said.
DeVos said that fixing Title IX and passing school choice policies should be handled, and "in that process, make the case for disbanding and winding down, de-powering the Department of Education."
Earlier this week, a video re-circulated by Young Americans for Liberty showed Trump explaining how he is prepared to shut down the U.S. Department of Education when he enters office.
According to a video, Trump said that he will end the Department “very early” into his presidency.
“And one other thing I will be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington DC and sending all education and education worker needs back to the states. We want them to run the education of our children because they’ll do a much better job of it,” Trump said in the footage.
“You can’t do worse. We spend more money per pupil by three times than any other nation and yet, we are absolutely at the bottom. We are one of the worst,” he added.
“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington DC. We’re going to close it up. We’re going to send it all back to the states,” he concluded.
Donald Trump is preparing “early” to close down the Department of Education pic.twitter.com/ekXnhBJ27a
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) November 11, 2024