U.S. Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would codify President Donald Trump’s executive order directing the closure of the U.S. Department of Education into law.
On March 20, Trump signed an executive order titled “Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities,” which directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities.”
Ogles’ bill, called the Make Education Great Again Act, would empower the education secretary to dramatically cut funds allocated toward the Department of Education and enhance educational content, policies, and funding transparency.
The five-page bill, according to its text, would specifically allow the education secretary to complete the following actions:
Take steps to ensure that Federal education funds empower parents and local communities rather than Federal bureaucracies;
Review and rescind, revise, or amend regulations, guidance documents, and policies that limit parental rights or State and local control over education;
Promote policies that support school choice, including expanding access to education savings accounts, voucher programs, and charter schools;
Identify and reduce Federal administrative burdens on States, school districts, and educational institutions;
Collaborate with States and localities to encourage high-quality education practices while respecting State and local decision-making authority;
Enhance transparency regarding educational content, policies, and funding so that parents and communities can make informed decisions; and
Ensure that Federal funds are used in a manner that supports student achievement rather than Federal mandates.
The bill would also allow the education secretary to “obligate or expend less than the total amounts appropriated for education programs, provided that such reductions do not violate statutory requirements for mandatory funding.”
Upon introducing the bill, Ogles said he was “proud” to assist Trump in “his historic effort to save the American classroom and return character-led excellence to our schools.”
“For far too long, the Department of Education has been poisoning the minds of students by injecting woke, anti-American curriculum into our schools. This Department not only oversaw record drops in student literacy and educational excellence, but it waged war against a traditional liberal education rooted in the texts of the Western tradition, classical trivium, and our Biblical heritage,” Ogles said.
“Federalizing education reduced the community classroom to a Marxist breeding ground that influenced students to stray from the principles of their parents, rebel against society, and embrace postmodern nonsense,” he added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Home Builders Association of Tennessee.
