Many Americans argue that the Department of Education has failed the country, citing stagnant or worsening academic outcomes despite a massive increase in spending.
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Today, only about one-third of 4th and 8th graders are proficient in reading or math, with many large urban districts seeing fewer than 20–25% of students at grade level.
Critics contend that the department has federalized what was historically a state and local responsibility, layering on costly bureaucracy, compliance requirements, and a series of top-down initiatives — No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core, and ESSA — that consumed resources while delivering little improvement and fueling administrative bloat instead of classroom results.
Writing an opinion piece for USA TODAY, McMahon detailed her thoughts on the matter.
“Our nation just experienced the longest government shutdown in its history. The 43-day shutdown, which came smack in the middle of the fall semester, showed every family how unnecessary the federal education bureaucracy is to their children’s education. Students kept going to class. Teachers continued to get paid. There were no disruptions in sports seasons or bus routes.”
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McMahon also addressed the recent changes at her department on Thursday — which includes shifting several programs to other federal agencies — while calling on Congress to make the changes permanent.
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“My purpose here is to speak directly to the American families, not just you, but to the American families, about the work this administration is doing in education to reverse our national decline with a hard reset of our educational system. That reset was a top campaign promise from President Trump to send education back to the states and end Washington’s micromanagement of education once and for all,” McMahon said at the White House.
This effort accelerated following the resolution of a 43-day government shutdown on November 12th, the longest in U.S. history, which temporarily halted federal operations but has since been highlighted by the administration as justification for further downsizing.
McMahon reiterated that the current goal is to outsource most functions to other agencies, reduce federal bureaucracy, and devolve control to states — though full elimination still requires congressional approval.
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Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announces six new inter-agency agreements with the Departments of Labor, State, Interior, and Health and Human Services, marking a major step toward cutting Education Department bureaucracy and shifting authority from Washington to state… pic.twitter.com/kTAgLYnPSa
— One America News (@OANN) November 20, 2025
The remarks capped a whirlwind 48 hours that saw the Trump administration announce the transfer of more than $31 billion in federal education programs to four other cabinet agencies — the largest single step yet toward fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the department, created in 1979.
Transfers Already Underway
On Monday, the department signed six interagency agreements that immediately shift day-to-day control of major programs:
- Title I grants for low-income schools and most K-12 funding streams → Department of Labor
- TRIO programs and dozens of higher-education grants → Department of Labor
- Office of Indian Education → Department of the Interior
- Childcare support for student parents and foreign medical-school oversight → Health and Human Services
- Fulbright and international-education grants → Department of State
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From WWE executive to U.S. Department of Education leader, Linda McMahon — who was confirmed on March 3rd in a party-line 51-45 Senate vote — has pursued the Trump administration’s mandate to dismantle the Department with characteristic intensity.
During an all-staff audio meeting obtained by Inside Higher Ed in late October this year, shortly after a second round of layoffs that cut an additional 465 positions, McMahon addressed the roughly 2,000 remaining employees, explaining that their “work now is to make this department obsolete.”
She has spent much of the fall on a 50-state “Return Education to the States” tour, showcasing local charter networks and apprenticeship programs while maintaining that federal oversight has coincided with a steep decline in American student performance.
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Federal education funding remains secure only through mid-January under the recently passed continuing resolution.
In the weeks ahead, McMahon has pledged to aggressively lobby House and Senate Republicans to enshrine the department’s program transfers into the upcoming fiscal-year budget, making the changes permanent through legislation.
She appears determined to finish what President Trump started — even if it means presiding over the end of her own agency.
“The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission.
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* Original Article:
Education Secy. McMahon: Govt. shutdown ‘proved’ U.S. Dept. of Education is not needed