The New Report. Originally published at FreedomProject.com
With virtually no media coverage, presidential frontrunner Donald Trump vowed to shut down the U.S. Department of Education and respect the authority of parents and states to oversee public education as part of a bold plan to bring about major changes.
Shuttering the controversial department was just one part of a 10-point plan including restoration of prayer and patriotism unveiled by the former president last month. Taken together, Trump’s vision would rock the education establishment to the core.
“We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, DC,” explained Trump in a campaign video. “We’re going to close it up – all those buildings all over the place and you have people that in many cases hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states.”
Over a trillion tax dollars per year are poured into the government education system, Trump explained. And yet, instead of being at the top, “we are literally right smack — guess what — at the bottom,” the former president explained, pointing to racial, political and sexual indoctrination.
Vowing to tackle the issue “very early” in his next term, Trump said his administration would be “sending all education and education work and 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,” he said.
“You can’t do worse,” the GOP contender explained about the current state of affairs. “We spend more money per pupil by three times than any other nation and yet we’re absolutely at the bottom — we’re one of the worst. You can’t do worse.”
Of course, several other leading GOP candidates have made similar pledges, including virtually all of the top-tier contenders: businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former Vice President Mike Pence. Even Ronald Reagan vowed to shut it down, though he did not.
Trump previously floated the idea of shutting down the Department of Education in his 2016 campaign. However, his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, cemented Common Core in place and signed globalist agreements with other governments for “internationalization” of education.
This time around, senior officials expected to be in the next administration told The Newman Report over the weekend that Trump has a much better idea of who can be trusted to do what voters are seeking — and who cannot.
High on the priority list outlined by Trump would be stopping the “political indoctrination” taking place in government schools. In its place, Trump called for restoring reading, writing, arithmetic, and other “useful” subjects that would help American children succeed.
Trump also vowed to rein in the anti-American extremism and propaganda being force-fed to children nationwide. Instead, students would learn about American greatness and would come to “love their country,” he said in the campaign video on education.
School safety will be a top priority, too, Trump said. Among other changes, he called for students who harm teachers or other children to face “immediate expulsion,” a sharp contrast with the current policy of tolerating lawlessness and out of control behavior under the guise of “equity.”
Without offering details, Trump also gave a nod to “school choice,” saying only that parents would be free to choose another school if they want. The term “school choice” has various definitions, but most include some form of tax funding for private schools and sometimes homeschooling.
The plan also focused heavily on helping students receive training for jobs, including internships. Trump also said schools and districts should be able to fire “bad” teachers and principals, and “reward” great ones—an idea viciously opposed by unions.
As The Newman Report explained in March, education is taking centerstage in the GOP primary as Republican candidates respond to surging concerns among parents about government schools. Getting the feds out is a good first step. But ultimately, getting government out altogether should be the goal.
