President Donald Trump’s recent White House “Back to School and Education Freedom Event” showcased the extraordinary progress his administration has made in just a year and a half to replace federal overreach with parental empowerment and education freedom.
As President Trump declared in his remarks, “We’re systematically ending every single one of these radical left betrayals, and we’re putting the parents back in charge. They’re the ones that love our children. They’re the ones that should be in charge.”
President Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon understand the fundamental truth that parents, not distant government bureaucrats, belong in the driver’s seat of their children’s education.
One of the Trump administration’s most consequential achievements is the nation’s first Education Freedom Tax Credit scholarship program, which takes effect in January. Americans who owe federal income taxes will be able to contribute up to $1,700 to an approved nonprofit scholarship-granting organization and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. Instead of sending those dollars to Washington with no say over how their money is spent, taxpayers can direct $1,700 toward changing the trajectory of a child’s life. And it costs them nothing to do so.
These scholarships can help cover private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, tutoring, books, transportation, and services for students with special needs. Most importantly, they will give families options beyond their residentially assigned district public school. With 30 states already opting into the program, millions of students will soon have greater access to an education that meets their unique needs and helps them reach their full potential.
The Trump administration is also making tremendous progress toward returning education to the states. After 45 years and $3 trillion spent on a massive federal education bureaucracy, 7 in 10 public school students are not proficient in reading or math. America cannot afford to continue pouring astronomical amounts of money into a failed system and expect different results. States must be freed to innovate, respond to the needs of their communities, and put student achievement ahead of bureaucracy.
Returning education authority to the states will also restore accountability. For too long, state leaders have pointed to federal mandates as the reason they could not pursue meaningful reforms or deliver better results. Removing those barriers eliminates that excuse. States will have greater freedom, but with that freedom comes the responsibility to produce results.
Under Secretary McMahon’s leadership, the Department of Education has already reduced its workforce by more than half, eliminated billions in wasteful spending, and entered into 14 interagency agreements to place programs with agencies better equipped to administer them.
Moving the $1.7 trillion federal student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department is a prime example of the common-sense reforms underway.
President Trump and Secretary McMahon are replacing decades of federal overreach with parental empowerment, state innovation, accountability, and opportunity, ultimately putting America’s students on a far stronger path to succeed.
Click HERE to watch Keri D. Ingraham’s interview on One America News or watch below.