Karoline Leavitt Says Department Of Education ‘Never Educated A Child’ As Trump Plans To Shutter Agency

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News host Harris Faulkner Thursday that President Donald Trump was “saving” American children by shuttering the Department of Education.

Trump is scheduled to sign an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to start shutting down the agency she heads Thursday, fulfilling a campaign promise. Faulkner plays clips of prominent Democrats denouncing the planned shutdown of the agency before asking Leavitt to respond.

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“President Trump is not failing America’s children, he is saving America’s children with this action that he will take later today directing Linda McMahon, our great secretary of education, to dismantle this federal bureaucracy that has taken more than $3 trillion from the American taxpayers since its inception in 1979,” Leavitt responded. “And what have we had as a result of that investment in our children’s education? Declining test scores in reading, writing and math. Proficiency levels at record lows for eighth graders, for fourth graders, at every level in every state across this country.”

“That’s why this president is returning education back to the people, to those closest to our students and our classrooms and that is teachers and educators and parents who know what is best for their children, and we are excited about this event that will be here later in the afternoon at the White House. We will have parents and educators and student and also governors from across the country who are excited to embrace this new responsibility of educating our nation’s children.”

According to the Nation’s Report Card’s 2024