Trump’s Education Agreements Spark Debate Over Federal Bureaucracy

The Trump administration’s new interagency education agreements represent a long-overdue shift that returns authority to families and states, not federal bureaucrats, according to Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., on Newsmax on Saturday.
“This is something that should have taken place years ago,” Walberg said on Newsmax’s “America Right Now,” adding that the Department of Education spent more than $1 trillion without proof that outcomes improved.
This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced six new interagency agreements that it said will break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs and activities and move closer to fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promise to return education to the states. Walberg on Saturday pointed to declining student performance as proof that change is needed.
“Test scores are going down,” he said. “Kids can’t read, there’s less control by parents in classrooms, and the bureaucratic nightmare and paperwork cost to our local school districts is exorbitant, so it is time to get it done.” He noted that when the Department of Education closed for 43 days during the government shutdown, schools and student activities carried on without disruption. Democrats have argued the administration’s plan is illegal, but Walberg rejected that view. “Unless they can find a progressive liberal judge to slow things down, this would automatically continue,” he said, emphasizing that interagency agreements have existed across government for decades. He added that essential functions such as civil rights enforcement and financial disbursements can be handled by the Justice and Treasury departments. Walberg also highlighted the ripple effects already seen in states and pointed to this year’s major tax package as a catalyst. “That one big, beautiful bill known as the Working Families Tax Cut gave the first time ever a toe into the water for universal choice in education,” he said. He noted that states now have the authority to expand school-choice programs or risk falling behind neighboring states that do so. The law also took aim at rising college costs, said Walberg, calling the move a shift away from federally driven tuition aid and back toward local control. To make the administration’s restructuring permanent, Walberg said Congress must act. “We do not want to see a ping-pong effect continue on, especially in education,” he said. “We need to get these things put into law, and we will do our level-best effort to make lawful by law itself these changes that have been put in place.” The congressman warned that the United States’ global standing in higher education has slipped. “Nations all around the world have sent their young people, best and brightest, to the United States for higher education. Well, that’s changing now,” he said, adding that stronger state-level reform is needed to reverse the trend.