Republican Gets Head Start on Trump Presidency, Introduces Bill to Abolish Education Department

A Republican senator is getting a head start on President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promise to abolish the Department of Education by introducing the Returning Education to Our States Act, a bill that would do just that.

"The federal Department of Education has never educated a single student, and it's long past time to end this bureaucratic Department that causes more harm than good," Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) wrote in a statement obtained by United Press International.

The DOE, founded by former President Jimmy Carter in 1980, oversees and funds financial aid, special education and school lunch programs for students in grades K-12. Rounds claimed the department has grown bloated and ineffective, and the power to mold education programs should go to the states, per UPI.

"We all know local control is best when it comes to education," Rounds wrote in the statement. "Local school boards and state Departments of Education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C."

If the bill passes in both chambers of Congress and if the president signs it into law, the DOE would be abolished within 180 days.

Originally published by Latin Times