Last Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE). As he shared during his remarks, he's hopeful that members of Congress will vote to do so, even Democrats. As Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) posted to X, he's heeding the call. He's introduced such a bill before and previewed that he's doing so next week as well.
The effort to dismantle the DOE has been decades in the making. The senator's father, former Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), had introduced a bill to do so in the early 1980s, not long after it was established during President Jimmy Carter's term in October 1979.
Trump had pointed out in his remarks before signing the executive order that our nation spends more money per child on education in the world, yet standards have been slipping since the department was created. During his Sunday appearance on CBS News' "Face the Nation," Paul made that same point.
When Brennan brought up the money that Kentucky receives, "the fourth most federal education funding per student of any state in this country," and how over 900 schools have Title I programs, meaning they're low-income, she went for a bit of fearmongering, asking, "How are schools going to get that money if the president closes the Education Department?"
Paul's response, however, highlighted how money is not the answer and that there are thus more questions to ask. "I think the bigger question, if we're sending all this money to Kentucky and all the other states, why are our scores abysmal? Why do two-thirds of the kids not read at proficiency? Why do two-thirds of the kids or more not have math proficiency?"
Despite Brennan trying to cut him off, Paul made sure to finish his point, highlighting how "it's been an utter failure."
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"I'd leave it back to the states. It has always been a position, a very mainstream Republican position, to have control of the schools by the states, send the money back to the states, or, better yet, never take it from the states," he continued. "About half of our budget in Kentucky goes to education, and that's the same in a lot of states. I think we can handle it much better. When I talk to teachers, they chafe at the national mandates on testing, they think are not appropriate for their kids. They think they waste too much time teaching to national testing."
Just as Trump had spoken about his support for teachers and how they may do better without the department, so did Paul. "The teachers would like more autonomy, and I think the teachers deserve more autonomy," he continued.
After murmuring along with the senator, Brennan still brought it back to money. "But when we looked at the budget in Kentucky, the state receives $2 billion in federal education funding. Do you have a guarantee that the federal government, federal taxpayers will still provide $2 billion in education funding? That seems important to your state," she pointed out.
"I'd rather – well, no, I'd rather is a guarantee that my kids can read and write and do math," the senator still brought it back to. "The amount of dollars – look, the number of dollars has gone up exponentially and our scores have gone the other way. So dollars are not proportional to educational success. What I want is success. And I have talked a lot about this. I think there are innovations we can do where there's more learning via some of the best teachers and we pay them more." He also brought it back to teachers as well, adding, "I would like to have an NBA or NFL of teachers, the most extraordinary teachers, teach the entire country, if not the entire world."
When Brennan asked who would run the department, Paul highlighted how it would be a states' issue. "They'd be selected out state by state, across the nation," he explained. He also reminded her that when he was in school before the department was created, schools did still have testing, making clear "you don't need the Department of Education for any of that."
🚨 MASTERFUL ANSWER FROM RAND PAUL. pic.twitter.com/AC40tVFCcp
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 23, 2025
BRENNAN: Kentucky gets $2B in education funding. Were you guaranteed you'll still get that?
PAUL: I'd rather a guarantee the kids can read, write and do math. The amount of dollars have gone up, our test scores have…
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