Op-Ed: Rep. Marlin Stutzman: President Trump’s Department of Education Executive Order deserves an A+
On February 5th, President Donald Trump stated, “If I could give the schools back to Iowa, and Idaho, and Indiana and all these places that run properly…you would have education that would be the equivalent of Norway and Denmark, and various other people that are at the top of the list.”
As a Hoosier, hearing the President say this makes me extremely proud to be from the Crossroads of America. The statement also strongly recognizes the contributions of previous Republican Governors and legislatures, dating back to Governor Mitch Daniels, with Governor Mike Braun and Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith continuing that legacy. Indiana has a school system that teaches our kids the information they need to succeed instead of brainwashing them with liberal ideology.
History has shown that American students were better off before the failed experiment of nationalized education, that spending more money per pupil has made them learn less, and that Indiana has the roadmap to success other states should be following when looking towards the federal Department of Education being dissolved from D.C.
The more nationalized our education system has become, the worse American students have fared. This is true even dating back to the Civil War era. Our country typically ranked in the top ten worldwide before the creation of the Department of Education in 1979. I owe that success to the fact that the schooling curricula were created by regional and state bodies rather than having what students learned dictated to them by a national body that views students as statistics rather than children needing an education.
We have all taken standardized tests. We all remember having a teacher walk us through the profiling questions that these tests demanded. The status quo has created a dangerous pattern where immutable characteristics are at the forefront of teaching rather than education in reading, writing, and arithmetic like the countries passing us. Students’ race and gender should not determine the quality or funding of education. Their educational needs should do that. Why would you not want your child’s education tailored as individually as possible? That is what sending education back to the states will accomplish.
By nationalizing education standards and funding, we have sent our kids on a one-way trip to the bottom of the literacy, math, and science totem pole worldwide. This problem started with spending slightly over $6,000 per pupil in 1979 to a projected $15,000 per pupil in 2025. The spending has resulted in what I see as a direct correlation in other countries passing our students at an alarming rate.
Our students do not even rank in the top 10 in math or science anymore. How can you continually send more resources to schools annually and still see this dramatic drop?
The simple answer is that money is being wasted because the system is horrendously broken. For the solution, look no further than Trump’s suggestion and to the Great State of Indiana, which has not seen a dramatic increase in educational spending since Mitch Daniels was Governor in 2010 and still ranks in the top 10 in every category (except 8th-grade math).
We as a country must not walk but run away from the idea that the more dollars that go to schools the better the outcome will be. It is a falsehood that is not based on empirical data. A number that is much more significant is pupil-to-teacher ratio. A statistic that Indiana has kept at a standard of 15-17 students per teacher over the last 25 years. States this number is similar to? Iowa and Idaho.
States that have a much higher number? California, Oregon, and Nevada. This individualized educational structure puts the education of the student over the funds spent on them.
The answer to improving education in the U.S. is as simple as 2+2. Abolish the bloated education-hindering federal agency like Trump is asking for. Focus on the kids' education instead of the money going to the schools. If we want to compete against Norway and Denmark, then our country must follow Indiana’s lead and focus on the content of the education instead of pouring more taxpayer money into a spiraling system.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman represents Indiana’s 3rd District in Congress.
