Rep. Mike Rulli, R-Ohio, appeared on Newsmax Saturday and called for the dismantling of the Department of Education (DOE), arguing that it undermines local control and fosters inefficiency.
"The department needs to be gone," Rulli said on "Saturday Agenda." "We had over 200 years of America without this department. It gives the teachers' union an insight to corrupt our systems basically and to poison a lot of our children's minds with really a bad narrative of what America is all about."
Rulli strongly believes Linda McMahon, the former WWE CEO and Trump's nominee to head the DOE, can enact necessary changes. "I don't think we could be in better hands than her," he said. She's the perfect person for the job."
Highlighting the importance of localized control, Rulli emphasized that parents and local governments should make decisions about education rather than at the federal level.
"It's the mom's right to choose that, and it needs to be brought home locally. There's nothing better than your local government to decide how you should live your life," he added.
Drawing from his experience as a former school board member, Rulli contrasted the cost of educating students in rural areas with the significantly higher expenses in urban districts like Cleveland and Columbus, which he characterized as wasteful.
"We were able to educate our kids for about $8,500 a year in a rural school, but in urban schools, they're pushing upwards of over $30,000 per kid," he said.
"Somebody needs to be held responsible for the incompetence and the dereliction of duty of taxpayer money. Until the Department of Education is disbanded, there will be no accountability," he added.
Rulli also criticized the broader inefficiencies within federal agencies, referencing statements by Vivek Ramaswamy, the newly appointed co-lead of President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
"Half of these departments only have 10% of their staff showing up, and COVID's been gone for three years," he said. "So I think it's a time of reckoning."
"I do think and I think for people of the opposition party that are watching this right now, think about all the money that we're talking about 2 to $300 million a year. That money will go back to your local school boards and local moms and dads for them to decide what's best for their children, for them to decide what kind of narrative and what kind of subject matter is taught to their kids," he said.
"The idea that this federal umbrella allows the teacher's union to bully these school systems, and the propaganda into the minds of our children, it needs to stop-- and we only have two years to do it," he warned.
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