Small Business Solutions

President-elect Donald Trump has named Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education, aligning with his campaign promise to dismantle the department and return control to the states.”I’m going to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states,” Trump said.Trump announced his nomination of McMahon, a former small business administrator and wrestling executive, to spearhead this effort.”You could say, well, let’s pass a law that eliminates the Department of Education and all the programs it administers,” said Neal McCluskey of the Cato Institute.”If you don’t eliminate the programs, then you’ve got to put them somewhere,” McCluskey added.Currently, the Department of Education manages the federal student loan portfolio for over 40 million borrowers and provides financial aid.”For example, the federal government administers the Pell Grant and helps lots and lots of kids around the country get to college who couldn’t otherwise afford it,” said Rebecca Winthrop of the Brookings Institution.The department also allocates federal dollars to colleges and K-12 schools.”It’s a lot more about ensuring that every kid, no matter which state they live in, can get access to a high-quality education,” Winthrop added.Trump has vowed to cut funding for schools teaching critical race theory or gender ideology but wants to reward states and schools that implement universal school choice programs.”Instead of money going to just public schools, the money follows kids to whatever school their families choose,” McCluskey said.”I think the mechanism he would use is a scholarship tax credit. There is legislation for that,” McCluskey added.Some experts warn that while expanding school choice may appeal to parents, it could be dangerous and unconstitutional to implement nationwide.Federal funding accounts for less than 15% of public school budgets and much of the budget comes from the state and local levels.