As part of a ten step plan to reform American schools, Trump announced that he was going to close the Department of Education, and he was going “to send it all back to the states”.

Tenth, another thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing the Department of Education in Washington, DC, and sending all education back to the states. We’re going to end education coming out of Washington, DC. We’re going to close it up, all those buildings all over the place, and yet, people who, in many cases, hate our children. We’re going to send it all back to the states.

How do you show that you know nothing about education? You think that the Department of Education controls public schools. And that’s what Trump thinks. Good Lord. 

Schools are a state and local function in this country. At most, the federal government has contributed 10 percent of school budgets. Ninety percent of funding from schools comes from the state and localities. 

The Department of Education does two main things: it distributes Title 1 funds for low income students, and it distributes funding for special education. The budget request for 2025 was $82.4 billion. $15.7 billion will go to special education. Another $19 billion supplements the education of low-income children. They also dole out money for career and technical education (which Trump supports), special schools for the blind, career training for adults, and other little projects. It employs 4,400 people. 

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