Education Leaders Back Trump’s Plan to Gut DC’s Dept. of Education [WATCH]

Oklahoma’s top education official is throwing his support behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to dramatically scale back the federal Department of Education, calling the move a historic moment for students and families.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration announced a major workforce reduction within the Department of Education, cutting its staff by more than 50%.

The agency, which previously had around 4,133 employees, will be reduced to approximately 2,183 as part of the administration’s broader efforts to return control of education to the states.

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Trump has long pushed for dismantling the federal education department, stating that he wants to “close up the Department of Education” entirely and shift authority back to state and local governments.

While Democrats and media outlets have sounded alarms over the restructuring, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has praised the decision, saying it is exactly what is needed to restore the integrity of the country’s education system.

“This is a historic moment,” Walters said. “I think President Trump is going to go down in history as the president that saved education and the future of the country.”

Walters has argued that the Department of Education has been compromised by left-wing influences, particularly powerful teachers’ unions such as the American Federation of Teachers.

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According to Walters, these groups have pushed ideological agendas, including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, at the expense of academic achievement.

“The disruption of education was the federalization of education and the unionization of education. That’s what got us away from the concept of schools that valued the community, value the family, value the individual,” Walters said.

“You have thousands of bureaucrats that are up there that are pushing a left-wing agenda, the most radical agenda the country has ever seen. They’re teaching kids to hate the country. They’re teaching kids to hate their faith.”

He also criticized the training requirements imposed on teachers by federal authorities, saying they focused more on social ideology than on practical classroom instruction.

“You can talk to teachers about the types of trainings the feds were requiring them to go to,” Walters continued.

“These were not helping them drive student achievement in their classroom. It was to push a left-wing agenda on kids.”

Since taking office in January 2023, Walters said he has fought against what he described as the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to use federal funding as leverage to promote gender ideology and DEI programs in schools.

“I was very sharp in my responses of why are we talking about transgenderism in an Algebra One class? Like there’s no connection between the two, but it shows you how far they were willing to go with their woke ideology, with the strategy to undermine American society, undermine the family unit,” he said.

Walters linked the decline in students’ test scores to the federal government’s influence over education policy, arguing that key indicators of student well-being have worsened since the department’s creation.

“All the test scores have shown that they’ve all gotten worse since this disruption occurred,” he said.

“Nearly every society factor has gotten worse. You look at teenage suicide. You look at teenage drug use. You look at the disintegration of the family unit. All of these things coincided in part with the creation of the federal Department of Education and the rise of the teachers’ unions.”

Walters believes that cutting back on the Department of Education will result in significant savings, allowing more funding to go directly to students and teachers rather than bureaucrats.

He pointed to reductions he made within Oklahoma’s education department, where cutting 150 administrative positions reportedly saved millions and enabled the state to fund tutoring programs and increase teacher pay.

“You’re going to see that, times a thousand with the federal Department of Education,” he said.

Tiffany Justice, co-founder of the parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty, echoed Walters’ support for the plan, assuring parents that these cuts would not negatively impact their children’s education.

“Don’t believe the union talking point, fearmongering lies,” Justice told Fox News Digital.

“Abolishing the Department of Education or dismantling it, cutting back on half the staff, only means more power to the parents, which is why the unions are concerned.”

Justice argued that the federal department has failed to improve student learning outcomes and has instead contributed to a decline in educational achievement.

“Since the creation of the Department of Education, student achievement has only declined,” she said.

“We’ve got a real crisis on our hands. I think the fact that the majority of American children are not learning to read is one of the biggest national security threats that we face as a nation.”

She also dismissed concerns raised by media and teachers’ unions, saying their criticisms were based on misinformation.

“If you’re watching mainstream media or the fake news, as President Trump likes to say, you’re hearing those union fearmongering talking points. They’re saying, ‘Oh, this is going to hurt teachers. This is going to hurt services.’ Nothing could be further from the truth,” she said.

“Every state has a department of education, and I think every state and every state leader should really be looking at this as an opportunity to be able to show what their vision is for education, and then to execute on that vision and really make sure that kids in their states are learning.”

Despite support from conservative leaders and parents’ rights advocates, the move faces legal challenges.

Nearly two dozen Democrat attorneys general have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, aiming to block the cuts.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, has condemned the restructuring effort, calling it “outrageous.”

“It is outrageous that the Trump administration is set on gutting the Department of Education,” Pringle said in a statement to Fox News.

She argued that the move constitutes “neglecting our students, our parents, our communities and… the future of this country.”

As legal battles unfold, the Trump administration remains firm in its plans to significantly downsize the Department of Education, signaling a major shift in federal education policy.

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