President Donald Trump reminded Democratic lawmakers who attempted to force their way into the Department of Education that American students’ proficiency and test scores continue to be on a stark decline at a Friday press conference.
A crowd of Democrats, most notably Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters, raged at a security guard in front of the department building Friday morning after they were denied entry into the premises. Trump responded, stating that the U.S. pours billions of dollars into the public education system in return for very little results as students’ test scores in core subjects have continued to plummet since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I see the same [lawmakers], I see Maxine Waters, a low life. I see all these people, they don’t love our country. We want great education. So they rank 40 countries in education, we’re ranked dead last, but the good news is we’re number one in one category, you know what that is? Cost per pupil,” Trump told Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy. “We spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, you look at Norway, Denmark, Sweden, various countries all up and down, Finland, China does very well in education and then look at us. We spend much more money than they do per pupil or any other way, but we spend much more money than they do yet we’re ranked, this year, Biden’s last year, congratulations Joe, we’re ranked dead last.”
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Democrats have expressed outrage over the Trump administration’s plan to sign an executive order to eliminate the department and ensure that public education is managed by the states. Trump vowed during the press conference that the federal government will begin to spend a significant amount less on education, but ensured the quality of public education will improve.
Federal, state and local governments spend roughly $857.2 billion on K-12 public education annually, though students’ test scores, and the federal government spent a record $190 billion in aid to schools since the pandemic without witnessing a significant improvement in students’ academic performances.
The U.S. is ranked as the top nation for education in the world by U.S. News & World Report, which is based on an international survey of around 17,000 people who were asked “whether a country has a well-developed public education system, whether respondents would consider attending university there and if that country has a reputation for top-quality universities.” However, The Nation’s Report Card released its 2024 data on Jan. 29 finding that reading and math scores for fourth and eighth grade students continue to be on the decline and stand way below pre-pandemic levels.
The report further found that one-third of eighth graders, the largest percentage ever recorded, failed to reach the National Assessment of Educational Progress’ (NAEP) reading benchmark.
Since the pandemic, students fell behind in math by over half-a-year and also struggled in reading and science, an analysis by The New York Times found in March. School closure rates and results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that students in remote learning settings were worse off on their test scores than those who were granted in-person learning.
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