South Dakota Senator Introduces Legislation to Eliminate Dept. of Education
South Dakota Senator Introduces Legislation to Eliminate Dept. of Education
The Facts
Republican South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds introduced legislation on Thursday to eliminate the Department of Education.
The “Returning Education to Our States Act” is Rounds’ most recent effort to end the department, with the senator saying that he has been pursuing the goal “for years”
The Spin
The Department of Education has become an example of bureaucracy at its worst. The department's budget has become bloated and unnecessarily large. This money could better serve students if it followed them directly instead of funding being concentrated at the federal level and controlled by unelected bureaucrats. Local and state are better informed to help their students. This bill has the best interests of students at heart.
Eliminating the Department of Education would harm schools and students by getting rid of essential federal programs, reducing financial aid access, jeopardizing civil rights, and increasing educational inequities. The department serves an essential role in supporting underserved schools and communities and ensures accountability in the education sector. These services are irreplaceable and dismantling them to reallocate to different departments would waste time, expertise, and funding that is already in place.