A majority of U.S. parents support “reducing the size and influence of the U.S. Department of Education,” according to a poll. released It was announced on Monday by Parents Defending Education (PDE).
PDE, explains itself As a grassroots group “working to take back schools from activists who impose harmful policies,” it found that 52% of parents opposed the Department of Education's downsizing. Forty-five percent are against doing so, and 3 percent are unsure.
Survey finds that Republican parents (67%) and independent parents (53%) are more likely than Democratic parents (29%) to support reducing faculty size and influence did.
By ethnicity, majorities of all groups except black parents (37%) support downsizing the Department of Education.
The investigation was conducted ahead of President Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20 and after he repeatedly pledged during his campaign to abolish the Department of Education. (Founded 45 years ago under President Jimmy Carter) and transmit power back to individual states and communities.
During August 2023 In an interview with X Spaces' Elon Musk, President Trump pointed to America's education scores rolling Compared to other developed countries, the United States spend “We have more per pupil than any other country in the world.”
“I want to shut down the Department of Education. I want to bring education back to the states…” Trump told Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X/Twitter.
July 2024, President Trump said:
And the other thing that I'm going to do pretty early on in my administration is close down the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and send all education and education-related jobs and needs back to the United States. We want them to run our children's education. Because they do a better job. It can't get any worse than this. We spend three times more money per student than any other country. And yet, we are absolutely at the bottom. We are among the worst. So it can't be any worse than that. We're going to end education coming out of Washington, D.C. We're going to close it down — all the buildings all over the place, and [you have] People who often hate our children. I'm going to send it all back to America.
PDE's survey also found that 77 percent of parents support “a U.S. Department of Education that gives states more flexibility in how they operate their school districts.”
This sentiment is supported by a majority of parents of all political affiliations, including 85 percent of Republican parents, 77 percent of Independent parents, and 67 percent of Democratic parents.
Parents are deeply divided about how the Department of Education is using its resources. Forty-eight percent of parents agree that the department is “appropriately leveraging resources to advance the education of students across the nation,” while 50% disagree.
Only Democratic parents (68%) agree, while only 38% of Republican parents feel the same way, followed by 48% of Independent parents. continues.
One thing parents overwhelmingly agree on is that public education improves by focusing on core subjects such as math, reading, writing, science, and social studies. 90% of American parents surveyed said they agreed with the above statement, including 92% of Republican parents, 88% of Independent parents, and Democratic parents. It is 91%.
The discovery will come later The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, drew attention to the PDE numbers. The Department of Education has spent $1 billion promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in schools.
Breakdown from PDE reveal A total of $1,002,522,304.81 in grants has been awarded from 2021 to date.
DOGE says $489,883,797 was spent on what it calls “race-based hiring.” An additional $343,337,286 was spent on “DEI programming,” and an additional $169,301,221 was spent on “DEI mental health initiatives.”
PDE President Nicole Neily said in a statement that the poll results:It highlights that parents are dissatisfied with many elements of the modern American education system and that there is a broad consensus that it is time for schools to get back to basics. ”
“For too long, federal bureaucrats have sacrificed the needs of students and families to appease the insatiable demands of unions and activists for money and power,” Neily added. “January 20th can't come soon enough.”
The survey was conducted by CRC Research from December 12 to 18, 2024, among 1,000 parents with children under 18 in their household. The margin of error is ±3.10 percentage points.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her at @thekat_Hamilton.
