Updated March 21, 2025 at 12:47 PM ET
President Trump's push to "return" education to the states may end up hurting state education agencies and student outcomes in the long run, warns a former Tennessee Commissioner of Education.
Trump signed an executive order Thursday instructing U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps needed to close the department "to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."
"We want to return our students to the states where just some of the governors here are so happy about this," Trump said from the Oval Office Thursday, surrounded by several Republican governors. "They want education to come back to them, to come back to the states, and they're going to do a phenomenal job."
But Kevin Huffman, who led Tennessee's Department of Education under former Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, says the move is misguided and could create confusion for state education agencies across the country.
Huffman currently leads education nonprofit Accelerate that advocates for more tutors in public schools.
Here are three thoughts Huffman shared with Morning Edition:
States already have independence on education policy.
Huffman says the Trump administration's move is based on a "false premise that somehow federal bureaucracy is the barrier and the reason why kids aren't learning more."
He adds that "States already have lots of autonomy, and some use it well and some do not."
States have been able to allocate federal dollars with a fair amount of autonomy, Huffman said, adding that they "certainly have lots of freedom in defining what their goals are, what their strategies are."
Eliminating the Department of Education may increase federal bureaucratic hurdles for states.
The Trump administration has said it would maintain federal funding streams for two of the Education Department's key programs: Title I, aimed at serving low-income communities, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which helps districts serve students with disabilities.
State education agencies currently follow rules set by the education department for these programs that were created by Congress, Huffman said. The administration could shift implementation of both programs to other federal agencies, but that could cause some headaches.
"It probably creates more confusion on the ground from states that are used to having a single source that they're dealing with. They still have to follow all of the rules to ensure that the funding gets to the right kids, into the right schools," Huffman said.
Huffman adds there is a public misconception about federal funding, and that it is "not intended to just backfill state spending." He continued, saying "It is intended to be directed at specific kids with specific needs."
Not having a national action plan to improve education outcomes could backfire.
Huffman said President Trump is right to call attention to the fact that reading and math scores are down.
"We peaked about a decade ago in reading and math scores in this country, and we need a national plan on how we are going to address this," Huffman said.
The Department of Education could play a key role in that, Huffman said, setting goals for increasing scores and ensuring students graduate with certain skills.
The department could "identify the states that are actually making enormous progress on this, have them showcase the great work that they're doing, call to task the places that are not making progress and try to be a source for all of the information that only the federal government is really capable of gathering," Huffman said.
But the Trump administration plans to practically gut the office within the Department of Education that measures student performances across the nation. NPR reports that as of Friday, all but three of the National Center for Education Statistics' employees have been placed on leave, and will eventually be laid off.
"I feel like American competitiveness is in the balance," Huffman said, "but the idea that our solution is going to be eliminating any national direction and national guidance and national plan feels like a bit of a surrender to me."
The radio version of this story was produced by Nia Dumas.
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