Republican calls to dismantle the DOE are growing louder.
By Katie Mather
Internet Culture Reporter
Yahoo News
At the Republican National Convention last week, multiple speakers discussed cutting funding for schools teaching critical race theory and allowing transgender athletes to compete through Title IX.
Republicans like Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, for example, repeatedly mentioned “universal school choice,” referring to the part of the GOP policy platform that seeks to give parents more of a say in what their children learn in school.
“We believe schools should educate, not indoctrinate,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at the convention. “We stand for parents’ rights, including universal school choice.”
Eric Trump, the son of the former president and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, described the current education system as “brainwash[ing]” children “instead of learning the fundamentals in school.”
“Education will be handed back to the states,” Eric Trump said.
Republicans and Democrats have long been divided over how to handle public education in the U.S. Polls suggest that within the past few years, as Republicans like Trump have become more vocal about wanting to separate the federal government from education, more parents — and voters — seem to agree they should have more authority over what their school-age kids learn.
Overall, education across the United States is funded and overseen by state and local governments. But the federal government does fund some areas and sets requirements for the state and local authorities to comply with, which is where the Department of Education (DOE) comes in.
As we inch closer to the 2024 presidential election, Republican calls to dismantle the DOE seem to be growing louder. But what would that actually look like?