America spent $3 trillion on a federal education bureaucracy.
But only three in ten kids can read or do math.
That’s why Linda McMahon is doing what Ronald Reagan couldn't do with education – but Democrats are trying to stop her.
The Numbers Washington, DC Doesn't Want You to See
The Department of Education was born in 1980 under Jimmy Carter.
Ronald Reagan called it a "bureaucratic boondoggle" from day one.
He pledged to kill it.
He couldn't.
Then George H.W. Bush came along and declared he wanted to be "the Education President."
Spending went up.
Achievement stayed flat.
Bill Clinton expanded it.
George W. Bush gave us No Child Left Behind and threw more billions at the problem.
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Barack Obama doubled down with Race to the Top.
Joe Biden poured in $190 billion in pandemic relief money – the single largest flood of federal cash into schools in American history.
The result?
Forty-six years and $3 trillion later, and seven out of ten American kids still cannot read or do math at grade level.
The Cato Institute ran the numbers and found that the cost of putting a student through government schools tripled in inflation-adjusted dollars between 1970 and 2009 – and achievement went nowhere.
Heritage Foundation researchers have been saying for decades that no strong or consistent relationship exists between education spending and student performance.
Washington kept spending anyway.
McMahon Is Doing What Reagan Promised
Education Secretary Linda McMahon is not waiting for Congress to act.
She spent the last two weeks calling into local radio stations across all 50 states – reaching millions of parents directly – with a message Washington has never delivered before.
"As a mother and grandmother, I know firsthand that we only get one opportunity to educate and help our children reach their full God-given potential," McMahon told Fox News Digital. "This 50-state tour has reached millions of families across our great nation, emphasizing the vital role parents play in their child's life – not bureaucrats in Washington."
That is not a talking point.
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That is a declaration of war on the entire federal education establishment that has failed American children for two generations.
McMahon vowed when she took office to dismantle the agency – and she hired staff members who pledged to work themselves out of a job.
An inter-agency agreement is already moving student lending operations from the Department of Education to the Treasury Department.
Nine agency partnerships over the past year have shifted power away from the department's offices and programs.
The department is being dismantled in plain sight.
The Biggest School Choice Expansion in American History
On Monday, President Trump hosted a back-to-school event in the White House Rose Garden and announced something Democrats in Congress are already trying to kill.
Starting January 1, 2027, a working family can send their kid to a school Washington, DC doesn't control – and get federal money to do it.
The Education Freedom Tax Credit gives taxpayers a dollar-for-dollar federal credit of up to $1,700 for donations made to scholarship-granting organizations.
Those organizations then provide scholarships covering tuition, tutoring, books, fees, and educational technology for eligible families.
Nearly 52 million children – 92% of all school-age kids in America – qualify.
More than 30 states have already opted in or signaled their intent to participate.
"This school year, American parents and students have so much to be excited about," McMahon said at the Rose Garden event.
Meanwhile, socialist Democrats in the Senate – led by Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) – have already introduced legislation to repeal the program entirely.
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Think about that for a second.
Democrats want to take away a $1,700 scholarship from a working family so their kid can escape a failing government school – and they want to call that "protecting education."
This Is the Fight Reagan Started and Trump Is Finishing
Reagan's problem was political will and a Democrat-controlled Congress.
He knew exactly what was wrong.
"The road to better education for all our people simply cannot be paved with more and more recycled tax dollars collected, redistributed, and overregulated by Washington bureaucrats," Reagan told Seton Hall University graduates in 1983.
Nothing changed for forty years.
Now Trump and McMahon are proving the only way to fix a corrupt federal bureaucracy is to bypass it entirely – put the money directly in parents' hands and let them choose.
The left-wing teachers unions that have donated hundreds of millions to Democrat campaigns understand exactly what this means.
When parents can vote with their feet, the monopoly is over.
When 52 million children are eligible for scholarships to escape failing government schools, the union's stranglehold on American children snaps.
That is why Democrats are scrambling to repeal the Education Freedom Tax Credit before it launches.
That is why you're not hearing this story on CNN.
And that is why Linda McMahon spent two weeks calling into local radio stations across every single state in the union – because the mainstream media won't tell parents what they just won.
Sources:
- Joshua Q. Nelson, "Trump admin urges returning education to states, citing $3 trillion of taxes spent and poor proficiency scores," Fox News, August 27, 2026.
- "President Trump Champions Educational Freedom – Putting Students and Parents First," The White House, August 24, 2026.
- "McMahon Touts $1,700 School Choice Credit At Trump Back-To-School Event," The College Investor, August 24, 2026.
- "The Impact of Federal Involvement in America's Classrooms," Cato Institute.
- "The Folly of an Education Spending Race," The Heritage Foundation.
- "Trump administration touts 'hard reset' as school choice agenda takes shape," Fox News, August 25, 2026.