The Department of Education opened its doors in 1979. American educational outcomes have declined in nearly every measurable category since. The department employs approximately 4,000 federal bureaucrats and spends approximately $80 billion per year to produce mandates, regulations, and curriculum directives that Oklahoma teachers, parents, and school boards never requested and never voted on. Shut it down.
This is not a radical position. Ronald Reagan ran on abolishing the Department of Education in 1980, yet the money still flows. Every dollar currently flowing through federal education bureaucracy should flow directly to Oklahoma families with no strings attached.
Elimination of the Department of Education
Support legislation to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education entirely. Transfer remaining essential functions, such as student loan administration and civil rights enforcement, to Treasury and DOJ respectively. Convert all remaining federal K-12 education funding into unrestricted block grants to states, distributed by citizen per-pupil formula. Oklahoma keeps every dollar. Oklahoma makes every decision.
School choice: power back to Oklahoma families
Create a 100% federal tax credit for private school tuition payments, capped at the average per-pupil expenditure in the student's home state. Extend the credit to homeschool educational expenses: curriculum, instruction fees, tutoring, and educational technology. Create federally-authorized Education Savings Accounts allowing families to receive their per-pupil share of federal education funding in a portable account.
Washington out of Oklahoma classrooms
Pass legislation prohibiting any federal agency from conditioning funding on adoption of specific curriculum standards. Ban federal DEI and gender ideology directives in schools. Support explicit federal protections for teachers and districts that maintain traditional family-values-aligned educational content.
Ron's Guerrilla News investigations have exposed failures in Oklahoma school districts, from mismanaged funds to safety failures. He'll bring that same demand for transparency and accountability to federal education policy.
Parents in charge. Always.
Stand with Ron Durbin and help us bring accountability to Washington. Every dollar supports the movement.