During a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) spoke about the change in the United States' academic rankings since the Department of Education was created in 1979.
00:06Madam Chair, what's the definition of insanity?
00:10Of sanity or insanity?
00:12Insanity.
00:14Insanity?
00:15Yeah.
00:16Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
00:18Right. And what was we ranked in reading and math in 1979?
00:22I'm sorry, what?
00:24What was we ranked nationally in math and reading in 1979?
00:29We were very, very low on the totem pole.
00:31We were number one in 1979.
00:33Today...
00:34Oh, in 1979.
00:35I'm sorry.
00:36In 1979, we were ranked number one around the world.
00:40Today, in reading, we are ranked 36th.
00:44In mathematics, we're ranked 28th.
00:47It's not working.
00:49What we're doing is not working.
00:51We're throwing money at the problem today.
00:53We have $1.6 trillion out in student loans.
00:56We have 50% of the $1.6 trillion, which is 42.7 million borrowers, that are current.
01:02Only 50%.
01:0530% is either deferred or in default.
01:09And 20% are just gone.
01:11Here's what's scary.
01:13Is the biggest growing population that's defaulting on their loans is 50-year-olds plus.
01:20It's a problem.
01:22It's a huge, huge problem.
01:24So, while my colleagues want to complain about you making changes, thank you.
01:29Because we're wasting taxpayer dollars and it's not paying a dividend back.
01:36Which is the definition of insanity, doing the same thing, expecting different results.
01:41We deserve better.
01:44Our kids deserve better.
01:46Our taxpayers deserve better.
01:49And we have to make changes.
01:51So, thank you to yourself and to President Trump, who's got the backbone to say, hey, let's make some changes.
01:59Can you explain how the budget reduces wasteful spending and ensures taxpayer dollars are used efficiently?
02:06Well, I do believe that as we have combined a lot of our competitive grant programs to simplified funding measure.
02:14So, we have cut the total amount.
02:17However, as I was mentioning earlier, the amount that is going into the states will be in a, some states call it a block grant or a single allocation unit to that state.
02:29And it will be controlled by those closest to the child.
02:32It will be the governor or it will be the state superintendent or it will be parents and teachers making sure those dollars are maximized within the state.
02:40There are a lot of programs, some successful, but not all of them that have been just awarded.
02:46You know, it's a little bit like mission creep.
02:48You know, you start a department, you start programs, and suddenly we have 264 different programs in the Department of Education that we're trying to fund and get to these states with not fully having an overall understanding of how well they are doing.
03:01So, I believe that by consolidating and to put them in a single grant that will go to the states, they can best spend that money.
03:10If they need more mental health, if they need an area of concern that's in their state, they know where to send that money much better than the bureaucracy in Washington.
03:20So, we're cutting regulation, but at the same time, you know, we're cutting some of the spending, but we're also cutting regulation to help pay for that.
03:29Well, so that kind of leads to my other questions of what steps are you taking to reduce bureaucracy and streamline the department's operations, which I do appreciate that because my mother was a special ed teacher.
03:41My brother-in-law is currently the principal at Guthrie High School.
03:46My aunt retired as a special ed teacher.
03:50My two sisters went to school for special ed, and it is frustrating for them to sit in the classroom and not be able to actually meet the students' needs but have to meet to a testing standard that these students with special needs can ever achieve.
04:10As my mom used to say when she was teaching back in the 70s, that she taught these kids, you know, how to try to live on their own, how to just simply take care of themselves through hygiene, how to actually be able to understand their finances to some degree, to be able to wash their clothes, to be able to maybe cook a meal.
04:31And we hate to take it down that far, but at some point, these kids are going to be out of high school, and taking the test isn't their future.
04:40They're taking their test as learning how to depend on themselves to some degree to the most they can to live the fullest life of their potential.
04:47And not having the resources available to do that in these schools are tough.
04:51And so the bureaucracy affects that.
04:54And by the way, it affects the entire school, too.
04:56And so by cutting that red tape, you're helping the teachers.
05:00And the teachers are the one that's desperately crying out for help.
05:04They went to school to be educators.
05:07Let them teach.
05:09Because they can do a phenomenal job.
05:11They have a heart to do something that I don't.
05:13I tell people all the time, I don't have the patience to be a teacher.
05:16But those that do, I want to give them all the help they can without having to worry about the red tape and the bureaucracy along the way.
05:23So I appreciate you pushing this from Washington, D.C., and letting the classroom make this decision for themselves.
05:31We've been joined by the Vice Chair, so I'll call on Vice Chair Murray for her questions.
