On Newsmax Wednesday, Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos backed President Donald Trump's push to dismantle the Department of Education, citing recent National Assessment of Educational Progress scores demonstrating the system's failure.
Speaking on "Rob Schmitt Tonight," DeVos said the latest NAEP results highlight a continuing decline in student performance, particularly among the most disadvantaged students.
DeVos said: "We continue to plummet vis-a-vis the rest of the world. And the children at the bottom of the list are the ones who've been hurt the most. Coming through COVID was awful, but this started well before that."
Trump has long pledged to dismantle the Department of Education, arguing that states and local communities should have more control over education policy.
His position gained traction this week after two sources told NBC News that the White House was preparing an executive order to eliminate the department, created in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter.
DeVos, who led the department from 2017 to 2021, said the agency has failed to improve student outcomes despite decades of federal involvement.
"Continuing to do the same thing at the federal level and imposing everything on all the states and all the local communities simply has not worked in the 45-plus years the department has been in existence," she said.
"President Trump is absolutely right. The department should be disassembled, should be dismantled, and Linda McMahon is exactly the person to get that job done."
Trump appointed McMahon, a former Small Business Administration administrator, to lead efforts to close the department.
DeVos also criticized teachers' unions, which she claimed have used the department to advance their interests at the expense of students.
"The department ... was created as a payoff by Jimmy Carter for their endorsement of him in 1976 when he ran for president," she said of special interest groups.
She argued that shifting funding to states and local communities would allow for more effective education policies.
"Again, the president is absolutely right, and much can be done without [a] congressional vote to dismantle by simply block-granting back to the states all the funds that are invested in education," she said.
"Again, nobody's talking about not investing in education, but really leaving it to the states, local communities and, importantly, parents to be able to decide where their children can best learn and go to school."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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