The U.S. Department of Education recently signed a series of interagency agreements that shift power from a handful of its offices and programs to other federal agencies as it works to dismantle the federal department for good.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a press release that this is "bold action" from the Trump administration to "break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states."
Ryan Walters is CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a conservative nonprofit that aims to provide an alternative to traditional teachers' unions. He says this move indicates that the president is listening to parents.
"It's promises made, promises kept from the Trump administration," he tells AFN. "The president has been crystal clear: he's going to shut down the Department of Education; he's going to take away that very key part of the teachers' union schemes to turn our schools into Marxist indoctrination centers."
He describes the Department of Education as "the crown jewel of the teachers' unions."
"That was their number one ask of Jimmy Carter back in the 1970s. They gave him millions of dollars in campaign cash, and in return, he created a federal agency to control the schools and push a left-wing agenda," Walters explains.
Now, as the country moves toward an education system that is focused on parents' rights, academic performance, and patriotism – where he says "it should be" – he expects the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association to fight back.
Walters thanks President Trump for this "huge step" in that battle, and he thinks parents across the country are celebrating that the power has been returned to them, where it belongs.
"It's a great day for parents," he says. "It's a great day for good teachers to get the weight of the federal Department of Education off their back."
The Education Department's six interagency agreements are with the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department, and the Department of the Interior to co-manage or take a growing role in managing certain offices and programs.
