President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to make sweeping changes to the nation’s education system, including eliminating the Department of Education and promoting nationwide school choice.
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You will not be surprised to find out that Democrats are horrified by the very notion that not only should states control their own education systems, but parents should also decide where and how their children are educated.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona chimed in on the matter during an appearance on NBC News in which he criticized Trump’s planned approach., saying that doing away with federal control over education sends a damaging message about the importance of education and could hurt vulnerable populations.
“As a parent and as a lifelong educator, I know this is the wrong message you want to send to the country at this time that education is not that important,” he said.
Cardona continued, saying that Trump is “promoting a plan that removes some of the civil rights protections of students across the country.”
“I think what it will do is affect the most vulnerable populations, students that struggle with reading and math, students with disabilities, children in rural areas. As a former state commissioner of Education, I can tell you decisions are made at the state level. The federal Department of Education doesn’t really have a role in curriculum. It doesn’t have a role in a lot of the things that they’re purporting.”
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Cardona claimed he is “totally fine with school choice,” and that “parents should choose where their children go to school.”
Yet, the education secretary said he does not agree with “taking public education dollars to fund vouchers in schools that don’t accept all students or can’t meet the needs of all students, in particular, students with disabilities.”
He savaged Trump’s plan, claiming it’s aimed at getting rid of government-run schools:
“I believe firmly that this is a plan to dismantle public education. It’s a plan to privatize, commercialize, if you will, K-12 education like they tried to do with for-profit colleges that turned out to be a disaster. So public education is not for sale.”
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on President-elect Donald Trump’s position on school choice
“As a parent and as a lifelong educator, I know this is the wrong message you want to send to the country at this time that education is not that important.” pic.twitter.com/1ECywqzrzZ
— Jeff Charles, Doni’s St. Bernard🏴 (@jeffcharlesjr) December 11, 2024
Nevertheless, school choice has plenty of support – especially at the state level. In Tennessee, Republican Governor Bill Lee and his allies are championing the Education Freedom Act of 2025, which would grant over $7,000 to parents for education savings accounts, which can be used for a variety of education-related expenses including private school tuition, tutoring, and more.
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TN Focusing on Education Savings Accounts pic.twitter.com/DAD9ZJGwTv
— 🥷🦅Austin Petersen 🇺🇲🥋 (@AP4Liberty) December 4, 2024
Other states like Texas, Kentucky, Colorado, Nebraska are also expected to try passing comprehensive school choice legislation next year. The school choice movement is gearing up for battle against not only Democratic lawmakers but also some Republicans.
Cardona’s points are common arguments used by people who want the government to make educational decisions for everyone’s children instead of allowing parents to have that responsibility. They aim to ensure that the state maintains control over education while granting as little power as possible to parents whose children are affected by the government’s many shortcomings.
Folks like Cardona claim that ending federal control over education would harm vulnerable populations while eroding civil rights protections. However, education, like most issues, is better managed locally. Federal involvement typically brings more problems than solutions, creating bureaucratic inefficiencies that hamper progress.
As Cardona admitted, schools create their own curricula, which means federal oversight is an unnecessary redundancy. Moreover, the federal government exercises more control than the secretary acknowledges, given that it can use its purse strings to coerce states into complying with its directives. In fact, the recent kerfuffle over Title IX when it comes to allowing trans-identified males to compete in women’s sports is a prime example of the sway the federal government has over states when it comes to education.
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If Trump and state governments manage to give parents more control over education, then it will signal that America is making progress when it comes to freeing the people from government control, which is why the more authoritarian elements are so worried about it. Hopefully, liberty will win the education debate.
