After President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to abolish the Department of Education (DOE), Education Secretary Linda McMahon has repeatedly said the president is not trying to “refund the services he goes to the state.”
On Friday appearances Breitbart News DailyMcMahon revealed how the state receives funds, even as he works to close out the Department of Education. Host Mike Slater asked the Education Secretary about panic as many people receive 10-12% of the funds from the federal government.
“I said before that I wasn't trying to refund the services the president goes to the state,” McMahon said.
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Slater specifically asked about the money to go to a program for students with disabilities. Many callers are noting that they are worried about what will happen in funding these programs.
“It's under the idea, an individual disability education law. Before the Ministry of Education was established in 1980, the idea was already in place. It was then HEW (Ministry of Health, Education and Human Services), and Title I funding was already in place.
“I think the idea funding could probably be very often returned to current HHS, and I had a preliminary conversation with Secretary Kennedy about that,” she said. “I would like to let my parents know yesterday that the President is very specific and that it won't diminish in funding for those services. In fact, he said he hopes to see some increase in those funds as he saves dollars with bureaucratic overhead.”
Certainly, bBefore signing the executive order, President Trump emphasized that Pell grants for children with disabilities and special needs, Title I funding and resources would be “fully preserved” and “redistributed to various other institutions and departments that are very well cared for.”
“It's very important to Linda. [McMahon]I know, and it's very important to all of us. But beyond these core needs, my administration will take all legitimate steps to shut down the department,” Trump said. It's not doing us well. ”
McMahon spoke about firing half of the department, highlighting that only inward roles have been cut to avoid hindering many necessary services.
“We fired about half of our personnel who have an inward ability rather than outward responsibility, so we didn't undermine any Title I fundraising or the services offered through ideas funding, disability, or special needs students,” she said. “We have made sure the Civil Rights Office is still properly staffed to proceed with the many of the research we were doing, ongoing, and some of the research we started.”
Slater asked McMahon to respond to claims from Randy Weingerten, the leader of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teachers union in the United States. Weingarten is at the forefront of the fight against schools reopening, particularly during the pandemic, and at one point it is reportedly calling for the Trump administration's efforts to end school closures “reckless” and “cruel.”
“Well, Randy Weingern said last week that the president is trying to take away his education. I think a lot of her statements are very exaggerated and she clearly knows that the president is not trying to take away his education,” replied McMahon.
“We are not abandoning our students. We want to provide better education for our students, better facilities for our students, and better opportunities for them to flourish and succeed,” she continued. “So I think she's just trying to create a lot of fear and a lot of opposition. I think we should sit down. I want to sit down and talk to her.
Eliminating the Department of Education completely takes the laws of Congress from 1979, since Congress established the department under President Jimmy Carter. After Trump signed the order, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee; I said X's post says he will “submit the law” to achieve Trump's goal of closing the department “as soon as possible.”
McMahon said she has already met with members of Congress and hopes to have them “as a partner in this process.”
“They have certainly seen the scores our students have across the country. Democrats and Republicans are basically seeing education fail our kids, and no one is pleased with the kind of scores they see on the latest country report cards,” she said. “Everyone wants to see improvements in education. We can't be the most last country in the world.”
“Now, Congress has established the Ministry of Education by law. There are some of these programs controlled by Congress, and yesterday, the President made it very clear that we are in legal action and worked with Congress to do what we were allowed to do,” she continued.
Related: Country report cards for US students show continued learning loss since the pandemic
“In the end, we need to agree to close the department to Congress,” she said. “I hope by then we have shown them that our partnership has brought about improvements with the department. If we are closing the department, taking charge of the education of our children, and providing tools and best practices to the state, we are making sure that it is in our best interest to ensure that our students can handle this.”
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