Senate Republicans Introduce Bill to Eliminate Department of Education

Senate Republicans on Wednesday formally introduced a bill that would eliminate the Department of Education, in line with President Donald Trump’s executive order mandating the dismantling of the agency. 

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) reintroduced the Returning Education to Our States Act, which he first introduced in November 2024. The bill would eliminate the Department of Education within a year of the bill’s enactment and would redistribute all critical federal programs to other departments. According to Rounds, scrapping the department’s bloated bureaucracy would save approximately $2.2 billion per year in taxpayer dollars and would allow funds to flow directly to states in the form of block grants. 

“We all know that teachers, parents, local school boards and state Departments of Education know what’s best for their students, not bureaucrats in Washington,” Rounds said in a statement. “The Department of Education was created to collect education data and advise state and local organizations on best practices. Since then, it has grown into an oversized bureaucracy that dictates one-size-fits-all policies, standards and practices for students across the nation.”

RELATED: Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon Meets with Republicans to Discuss Legislation to Dismantle Department

“The Returning Education to Our States Act would preserve important programs and federal funding while eliminating the bureaucracy of the Department of Education,” he continued. “This has been a priority of mine for years, and it’s one that President Trump shares. I’m looking forward to working with the President, Secretary McMahon and the rest of the administration to get this legislation across the finish line and return education decisions to the state and local levels where they belong.”

The legislation is cosponsored by Sens. Jim Banks (Jim Banks (R-IN) and Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

“While the average Dept of Ed bureaucrat makes twice as much as a teacher in Indiana, our national test scores are near historic lows. That money should be sent back to the states to empower parents, teachers, and local leaders,” Banks said in a statement. “Congress has a golden opportunity to codify President Trump’s executive actions. This bill does that. It’s a win for American education.”

“It’s time to put students first, not bureaucracy,” Sheehy added. “We spend more on education than at any point in history, but test scores are declining because those dollars are being squandered by a bloated federal bureaucracy. Closing the DOE will not cut off funds from students who depend on them, but it will eliminate layers of red tape in Washington, D.C. and ensure taxpayer money for education is better spent at the local level, where the dollars support kids, families, and hardworking teachers.”

RELATED: The Nation’s Report Card for U.S. Students Shows Continued Learning Losses Since Pandemic

Throughout his campaign, President Trump pledged to eliminate the Department of Education and send power back to states, communities, and parents. The department was created under President Jimmy Carter 45 years ago to help states establish thriving school systems, but the Trump administration argues it has not lived up to its intended purpose.

The White House previously pointed to recent dismal results from the Nation’s Report Card, which found that math and reading scores are at the lowest level in decades, six-in-ten fourth graders and nearly three-quarters of eighth graders are not proficient in math, seven-in-ten fourth and eighth graders are not proficient in reading, and 40 percent of fourth grade students don’t even meet basic reading levels.

At the same time, standardized test scores have not meaningfully improved in decades, and U.S. students rank 28 out of 37 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member-countries in math.

While it takes an act of Congress to officially disband the Department of Education, President Trump has tasked Education Secretary Linda McMahon with winding down the department, joking ahead of her confirmation that he wants her “to put herself out of a job.” Ahead of signing the executive order winding down the department, Trump again joked that McMahon “hopefully she will be our last secretary of education.”

“We’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right, and the Democrats know it’s right,” he said at the signing. “And I hope they’re going to be voting for it, because ultimately it may come before them.”

Ahead of McMahon’s confirmation, the department terminated nearly $1 billion in grants and slashed millions in wasteful spending and DEI projects, eliminated 2,300+ woke webpages and related materials, and launched investigations into states, school districts, and universities accused of racial preference policies and allowing males to play on female sports teams.

Soon after her confirmation, the department announced that it is reducing its workforce by half in an effort to streamline the department and cut down on unnecessary bureaucracy.

To see a list of which departments will take on the various functions of the Department of Education, click here.

Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.