United States Parents Involved in Education (USPIE), a national parental rights organization, is supporting a bill that Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced in the House of Representatives last year to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and return funding to individual states.
HR 2691 would close the Department of Education, repeal every program administered by the department except for Pell Grants, block grant money to states based on the amount of income taxes paid, and provide parents with tax relief without using government schools, according to an emailed press release.
In an email to Congress supporting the bill, USPIE called the department an “unconstitutional” institution that “wastes taxpayer dollars, fails to improve outcomes, and often drives harmful teaching practices through federal incentives.” USPIE also claimed that since the department’s founding nearly 40 years ago, it has not improved student outcomes, which the organization said are now at record lows.
The organization further said that dismantling the department “reflects the will of the American people and is supported through President Trump’s decisive Executive Orders.”
“It’s time to pull the plug on the federal education behemoth,” Melanie Kurdys, USPIE board member and president of the organization’s Michigan chapter, stated in the release.
According to the release, USPIE has also met with Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., who is the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. The bill is currently sitting before the committee, and USPIE said that Walberg is hopeful that the committee’s Republicans will approve of the bill. Walberg also said if enough support is received, he would hold a vote to advance the bill to the House and encourage House Speaker Mike Johnson to present the bill for another vote.
USPIE has also presented a blueprint to close the department, end federal education mandates, and return funding to the states.
The time is right,” USPIE states in the blueprint. “Serious conversations are happening throughout the country about the legitimate and effective role of the federal government in education. Many on both sides of the political aisle agree the federal government has become unreasonably intrusive and ineffective in education policy and practice.”