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On Monday, Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy took to Twitter with his plan for the Department of Education if he were to be elected President in 2024.
In his tweet, Ramaswamy laid out 3 key problems that he has with the Department of Education.
1. “Foists divisve ideology using taxpayer funding as a cudgel.” Ramaswamy noted that “the DoED awards tens of billions of dollars in block grants to education yearly, but only if they meet politically favored benchmarks.” The proposed 2023 budget includes $1.5 billion on grants to support racial minorities in higher education, which violates the Supreme Court’s recent affirmative action ruling.
2. “Dimishes choice by centralizing Education”. Ramaswamy stated that Schools are run locally in the U.S., yet taxpayers send money to Washington D.C. only for that money to be sent back to localities across the country. In the tweet, Ramaswamy called this practice “wasteful and counterproductive”.
3. “Prioritizes college over vocational education or trades training”. Ramaswamy noted that “Barely more than 1 in 3 Americans has a 4- year college degree and yet, more than half of the DoED’s budget -approximately $62 billion goes to support grants and laons for college degrees”.
Ramaswamy then laid out what he wants the future DoED to look like.
1. “Increased resources for school choice”, allowing states to have more money to “tailor education so that all children get a fair opportunity for an excellent education.”
2. “Cost Saving and efficiency”. Ramaswamy claimed that under his plan “almost half of DOE’s annual budget would be rebated back to state and local authorities.”
3. “Protect Children” by redirecting a quarter of the DOE’s $83+ billion budget to putting three armed marshals in every school.
Ramaswamy also tweeted “We will shut down the Department of Education, without apology. Much better uses for that money: put that money back into parents’ pockets where it belongs. Here’s the hard TRUTH: there is an *inverse correlation* between how much $$ a public school spends per student & the actual outcomes that school achieves for its students”, the tweet reads. “Solution: parents who move their kids to schools spending less $$ per student while achieving better outcomes ought to be able to keep half the money. Example: A student at a failing school in NYC that receives $40k per student, who transfers to a school 15 miles away that receives $20k per student, gets to keep half the difference, $10k. Do the math. The left calls math “racist.” I call it a $250k+ graduation gift for kids. You pick which one is better.”
