Op-Ed: Rep. Burgess Owens: The Department of Education is failing, but President Trump is leading the way forward

November 5 marked a rejection of the status quo and the mandate for change ran straight through our nation’s failing schools. Last week, President Donald Trump made good on his promise to roll back the federal government’s grip on America’s education system. Leading the charge is Education Secretary Linda McMahon, tasked with something practically unheard of in Washington: working herself out of a job.

As McMahon takes on this final mission, it’s time we ask: How did we get here? And more importantly, what comes next? In Congress, we are working to craft a new path forward — a New Golden Age for education policy — one that puts power back in the hands of parents and students, not Washington bureaucrats.

First, the disaster.

Before 1979, America’s students were at the top of global rankings in reading, writing, and math. States had the power to create systems that worked for them, aligning with our federalist structure — each state a thriving haven for innovation, focused on teaching for success, not just “teaching to test.”

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter struck a deal with America’s largest teachers’ unions to create a centralized agency. In doing so, we traded flexibility for federal formulas, innovation for compliance, and local leadership for distant oversight. Fifty years and trillions of dollars later, our learning outcomes have either stagnated or declined, as the system now fights to preserve itself instead of serving America’s students.

Today, only 30 percent of 8th graders are proficient in reading and math, and barely half of high school seniors are reading at grade level when they graduate, according to the Nation’s Report Card from 2023. Education in this country is flatlining, and if we don’t act now, we’re not just at risk of losing our competitiveness to China — which now outranks the US in reading and math scores — but to our own past, when 83 percent of 17-year-olds read grade level in 1971.

Enter President Trump and his promise to reverse this disaster by returning to what worked for nearly 200 years — local control.

Instead of forcing states to jump through hoops and comply with burdensome requirements to access the nearly $70 billion set aside for grant funding each year, Secretary McMahon is setting the stage for a block granting system. Under this system, each state will be empowered to allocate funds based on their own education needs. Whether it’s hiring more teachers, upgrading facilities, or expanding vocational programs, local leaders are in a better position to understand their communities’ needs than Washington’s unelected bureaucrats.

Take my home state of Utah for example. We’re #2 in the nation for education and #1 for innovation because we’ve embraced choice and local decision-making, empowering 10,000 families to find the right school for their kids. While we do take advantage of federal funding for Title I, Title II teacher development, and IDEA programs, the bureaucratic red tape forces teachers to spend nearly as much time filling out paperwork as they spend in the classroom.

Utah can stretch this funding much further inside the classroom without the red tape and compliance costs. It would mean more time for teaching, with oversight coming from Utah school boards and state education agencies that are directly accountable to Utah voters, unlike faceless bureaucrats working out of Washington.

This is our opportunity to rebuild American education from the ground up — to restore excellence, trust families, and let each state lead in its own way. Utah proves that choice works, and that innovation thrives when Washington steps back. As Secretary McMahon carries out President Trump’s agenda, I’ll be working in Congress to lock in these reforms, expand educational freedom, and ensure that every child in America — regardless of their ZIP code — has the opportunity to succeed.

This mission is the greatest gift we can pass down to our children — let’s get to work.

Rep. Burgess Owens represents Utah’s 4th District in Congress.