As Congress begins a new session on Capitol Hill and lawmakers offer up an array of new policy proposals, one new bill introduced by a North Carolina representative dials in on a topic long debated within conservative circles: ending the US Department of Education.

North Carolina Rep. David Rouzer, R-07, introduced a bill last week in the US House to eliminate the Department of Education, a move that Republican leaders have floated for years amid ongoing criticism of the federal government’s influence in the public school systems. 

The bill marks Rouzer’s sixth attempt to abolish the agency. Since he was elected in 2014, Rouzer has proposed eliminating the federal agency during every congressional session.

“I’ve introduced the States’ Education Reclamation Act in each Congress since I was first elected,” Rouzer said in a statement provided to Carolina Journal. “Education should be handled at the state and local level without interference from the Federal government. This bill takes the funding appropriated to the Department of Education and gets it back to the states to use for teacher pay increases, new schools and/or whatever each individual state needs to enhance education.”

While elected leaders are increasingly interested in eliminating or downsizing federal agencies to boost government efficiency, the practicalities of shutting down a federal office may be far more challenging than it sounds. Dr. Robert Luebke, Director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, supports bringing education matters back to the state level, but he remains doubtful that it can actually happen.

“Do I think it should be eliminated? Yes. Do I think it’s going to happen? No,” said Luebke. “Eliminating the Department of Education is something that frequently comes up in presidential election years. I’d favor the move, but it also requires thinking through how other programs would be impacted, such as Title I money, student financial aid programs as well as the Office of Civil Rights. If you close down the Department of Education are those functions terminated? Or are they sent elsewhere? We need an answer to that question, and even more than that, we need a discussion of how this would be done, and that hasn’t been done.”

Title I is a federally-funded program that provides financial assistance to schools with a high number of low-income students. The program helps schools improve education through extra support, such as tutoring, teacher training, and educational resources, to ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed.

North Carolina receives over $500 million in Title I funding from the Department of Education every year in addition to over $1 billion for elementary and secondary level programs. 

Source: Department of Education

“Low-income students in North Carolina get over $500 million in Title I funding,” Luebke revealed. “In addition, students receive millions in student financial aid. Do we favor cutting off those programs right now? My point is there is a way to end programs without making more enemies along the way. Eliminating the Department of Education is a campaign slogan. We can do it, but we have to do what we’re currently not doing. And that is thinking through the decision and the implications.”

A new Carolina Journal poll published on Tuesday shows that half of voters oppose abolishing the U.S. Department of Education, with a majority of Republicans in favor and nearly all Democrats opposed. Both teachers (40%) and parents (39%) are more likely to support abolishing the DOE compared to non-parents and non-teachers. Just 3.5% of respondents believe the Department of Education is best suited to determine where a child should attend school, making it the least favorable option compared to parents, local, or state education boards making that decision.

The Department of Education was established in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, though calls to eliminate the agency began upon its inception. Just three years later, President Ronald Reagan called for an end to the department during a State of the Union address and argued that decisions about education should be made at the local level.

The federal agency has spent over $1 billion funding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, Carolina Journal previously reported. In December, Congresswoman Virginia Foxx, NC-08, said that DEI “is being bagged up and placed on the curb come January – it’s time to take out the trash.”

Just last week, the Department of Education announced actions to eliminate DEI initiatives within the agency following an executive order from President Trump. In addition to canceling internal DEI efforts, the department will work to identify and remove over 200 web pages from its website that housed DEI resources and encouraged schools and institutions of higher education to promote or endorse harmful ideological programs.

Rouzer’s bill can be tracked for progress here.