For one House Republican, the dismantling of the Department of Education cannot start soon enough.
Rep. Michael Rulli, (R-Ohio) said Thursday that he is working on ways to make the process go as fast and smooth as it can, Fox News reported.
“I want to thank President Trump for inviting me to the White House for the signing of this executive order. Government functions best when it is closer to the people it serves, which is why returning control of education to the states is such a critical step,” Rulli said.
Rulli is working on legislation “to codify the President’s agenda into law, ensuring that these essential reforms to our children’s education cannot be undone by future administrations.”
Rulli’s bill — as well as President Trump’s executive order — will allow certain funding sources, such as Pell Grants, Title I programs, and resources for children with disabilities and special needs” to be under the auspices of different federal departments.
The lawmaker said this will place the power to address individual needs in each community to the people best able to address those needs — state and local leaders.
“Having served on my local school board for eight years, I’ve seen firsthand how our schools serve as the backbone of our communities,” Rulli said. “This executive order empowers states to better address the unique needs of their communities and amplifies the voices of local school leaders.”
He also let his feelings on the matter known with a post on X Thursday.
“Thank you, President Trump!” Rulli wrote. “The Department of Education has been a total failure for the last 45 years.”
“America’s kids deserve better,” he added.
Previously, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are not alone in the mission to dismantle the Department of Education and will serve everyone better.
“[T]his is a time for change. I think this will serve students, parents, teachers, administrators better to have that down at the local level. And Secretary McMahon is bringing that change about. This is a long time coming. You will have a greater choice for parents and students. You will have a lot better outcomes, I think. This is something we all applaud,” Johnson said.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) will reintroduce a bill of his own that is short and to the point.
“The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026,” the bill reads.
Others approved of the move.
“We now have a secretary of education, Linda McMahon, who understands the importance of getting the federal government out of the way. And I look forward to working alongside her to get the federal government off the backs of students, families, educators, and taxpayers,” Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg said in a statement, per Daily Caller News Foundation. “Bottom line, the Department of Education has failed to deliver results for America’s students and today’s actions by the Trump administration will help ensure our nation’s youth are put first.”
Under former President Joe Biden’s leadership, the return on investment into the Department of Education was not great. This includes spending $100,000,000 on DEI and LGBTQ inclusion.
Meanwhile, test scores are going down. For example, “one-third of eighth graders failed to reach the NAEP’s reading assessment benchmark in 2024, the largest percentage ever recorded, and 40% of fourth grade students tested below NAEP’s reading proficiency, the largest percentage since 2002, per the Daily Caller.
“The Department of Education does nothing to improve students’ academic outcomes and has been completely captured by teachers unions pushing a leftist agenda,” Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, an Independent Women’s Network chapter leader and mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, said. “Its dissolution can’t come soon enough. The minimal functions that the bloated bureaucracy performs to serve our nation’s children can be moved to other departments.”
