Summary
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act, aiming to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, a long-time Republican goal aligned with Trump’s agenda.
The bill proposes redistributing the department’s $200 billion budget and responsibilities to other federal agencies and states, such as shifting federal student loans to the Treasury.
Critics warn this could undermine protections for students with disabilities and marginalized groups.
While the bill faces significant political hurdles, it reflects broader GOP efforts to reduce federal influence over education policy.
There’s no such thing as a “federal education funding tax” applied to each state to collectively fund education across the whole country.
The IRS will collect the same federal tax that it always has, but Republicans will funnel the former federal public education money to their pet projects: “crisis pregnancy centers,” the military, more tax cuts for billionaires, vouchers for discriminatory private schools, etc.
Therefore the Blue states will get even less federal funding in return for the federal taxes that their economies generate, but by no means will their federal tax burden go down.