A resolution urging Congress to end the United States Department of Education and return its authority to the states passed an initial hurdle in the state House on June 2. The House Education Committee approved House Joint Resolution 1030 in a voice vote, sending it to the House Rules Committee.

The resolution would put the General Assembly on record supporting “federal efforts to eliminate the United States Department of Education” and urging Congress “to fully cooperate with these efforts.” The move would put North Carolina in line with President Donald Trump’s executive order in March 2025 directing education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the agency.

One of the resolution’s primary sponsors — Republican Rep. Brian Biggs of Randolph County — told the committee the resolution would cut Washington bureaucracy without touching the dollars that reach classrooms.

“I’ll tell you what it does not do,” Briggs said. “It does not cut funding for individuals with disabilities… It does not repeal Title I, it does not end Pell Grants, it does not reject federal dollars. Our position is simple: keep the support students need, move the decision-maker closer to the parents, teachers, local boards, and states. That’s what this bill does.”

Federal money would continue to flow, likely reallocated through the US Treasury Department, Biggs added.

The wording of the resolution argues that education is not an enumerated federal power under the 10th Amendment.

“Despite an annual budget of $60 billion and another $276 billion in one-time spending for COVID-19 recovery efforts, 4th- and 8th-grade reading scores remain roughly unchanged since the early 1990s when national measurements first began,” it states.

The North Carolina measure mirrors model legislation circulated by the American Legislative Exchange Council, which carries nearly the same title.

Rep. David Willis, R-Union, who chairs the committee, said critics misunderstand how federal education money works.

“I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about what the federal law of education does, where the money comes from,” Willis said, noting that most funding arrives as block grants. “None of this data, none of the stuff that we’re measuring, none of the assessments that we’re doing, none of this stuff goes away… DPI is already collecting that stuff.”

Democrats on the committee sharply criticized the measure. Rep. Brandon Lofton, D-Mecklenburg, said the resolution asks Congress to abolish an agency without identifying what it actually does.

“I don’t think I’ve heard an actual substantive answer about what exactly the department is doing today that tomorrow, if Congress enacted what we’re asking them to do, they would no longer do, and what impact that would have on our students,” Lofton said.

Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake, pressed Biggs on where the department’s responsibilities would land if it were dissolved, while Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, a former chief district court judge, warned that abolishing the department could cost the state the data it uses to measure itself against others.

“I think we know a lot of this data on how North Carolina compares to other states, because the Department of Education keeps this information,” Morey said. “Without that, we may not know anymore where North Carolina stands.”

She added a jab at the education secretary. “I wish we had a resolution to get rid of Secretary McMahon, whose only expertise is a World Wrestling Entertainment organization,” she said.

Biggs closed out the debate with an analogy from his days in local education, arguing that overlapping layers of government muddle accountability.

“We got the federal government, they’re running it; and then you want the state to run it,” Briggs said. “So they’re all running it. Do we need two principals, or do we need one person guiding the boat?”

As a joint resolution, the measure would need to pass both the House and Senate. Even if adopted, it would carry no binding effect.