00:00Caroline, what do you say to critics of the President's education plan?
00:05Where was their criticism of our nation's failing test scores for the last several decades?
00:12The Department of Education was founded in the 1970s and since then we have spent more
00:16than $3 trillion at this federal bureaucracy.
00:21What has been the return on that investment for the American taxpayer?
00:26Levels that are less than ideal, less than proficient.
00:29Our children's test scores are incredibly concerning when it comes to reading rates,
00:34literacy rates, math and science test scores.
00:38The numbers prove that and the President is finally, this President is finally taking
00:43much needed action to return education to where it belongs and that's to educators closest
00:49to students in their classrooms in their respective states.
00:52We're going to have a great event here later at 4 o'clock.
00:54There will be students here, teachers here, parents here, educators and of course governors
01:00from around the country who are very excited about taking on this responsibility to educate
01:04our nation's students.
01:05Who's going to run federal student loans?
01:07So the Department of Education will be much smaller than it is today.
01:11As you know, the President's executive order directed Linda McMahon to greatly minimize
01:15the agency.
01:16So when it comes to student loans and Pell Grants, those will still be run out of the
01:20Department of Education, but we don't need to be spending more than $3 trillion over
01:24the course of a few decades on a department that's clearly failing in its initial intention
01:29to educate our students.
01:30So is the federal government going to be spending less?
01:31How is this going to be much smaller than it is?
01:32Is it not going to be shut down completely?
01:33And then I have a second question.
01:37As I said, Pell Grants and student loans will still be run out of the department in Washington
01:42D.C., but the great responsibility of education, educating our nation's students will return
01:47to the states.
01:49The Department of Education plays a critical role in enforcing civil rights laws that prohibit
01:54discrimination.
01:55Who's going to do that now?
01:56Any critical functions of the department such as that will remain, but again, we're greatly
02:01reducing the scale and the size of this department.
02:04What about federal Title I funding and special education funding?
02:07Same answer.
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