The executive order will “begin eliminating” the department “once and for all,” Trump said on Thursday in remarks before signing it, noting that “it’s about time.”
“After 45 years, the United States spends more money on education, by far, than other countries, and spends likewise by far more money per pupil than any country, it’s not even close,” Trump said. “But yet we rank near the bottom of the list in terms of success.”
The department has spent more than $3 trillion since 1979, a White House fact sheet released Thursday noted, and per-pupil spending has increased by more than 245% with “virtually no measurable improvement in student achievement.” Math and reading scores among 13-year-olds are at “the lowest level in decades,” the memo added, with 70% of fourth and eighth graders “not proficient in reading.”
