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Trump praises Indiana schools as 'well run' as he calls to close U.S. Dept. of Education

By Eric Weddle

Posted December 16, 2024

Former President Donald Trump holds campaign rally at the Rochester Opera House in Rochester, New Hampshire, on Sunday, January 21, 2024. New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary occurred two days later.

President-elect Donald Trump praised Indiana schools as "well run" while reiterating his aim to transfer control of education from the federal government to individual states. (Liam Enea via Wikimedia Commons)

President-elect Donald Trump praised Indiana schools as "well run" while reiterating his aim to transfer control of education from the federal government to individual states.

In an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, Trump repeated his call for a “virtual closure” of the U.S. Department of Education, claiming federal involvement has increased per-student costs while yielding poor academic outcomes.

Trump has offered few specifics on how the department’s key responsibilities — such as enforcing civil rights protections, distributing Title I funds for low-income students and those with disabilities, and administering federal student loans — would be handled if the department were eliminated.

However, he singled out Indiana and Iowa as examples of states that could thrive with reduced federal oversight and potentially compete globally with countries known for strong education systems.

“When they run their own educational program, I think it's going to, I think they'll be able to compete with anybody,” Trump said.

Shutting down the Department of Education would require approval from Congress.

Indiana has long been heralded as a leader in school choice by advocates of private school vouchers, scholarship tax credits and charter schools — initiatives Trump has said he wants to expand.

Trump and members of his previous administration have repeatedly recognized Indiana’s education system. Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has highlighted Indianapolis Public Schools and during her tenure visited the state multiple times to tour school districts, charter schools, private schools and a coding program at a juvenile correctional facility.

Indiana schools received approximately $252 million in federal Title I funding last academic year, according to state data.

What did Trump say?

Trump was recognized for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year. During an interview with Time’s journalists in Palm Beach, Fla. on Nov. 25 Trump was asked about his plans for education and other goals for his second term as president. The full interview was published Thursday.

Time: What does moving back to the states mean? Does that mean closing the Education Department?

Trump: A virtual closure of Department of Education in Washington.

Time: Virtual closure?

Trump: Well, you're going to need some people just to make sure they're teaching English in the schools. Okay, you know English and mathematics, let's say. But we want to move education back to the states. If you look at the states, if you look at some of the individual countries, Norway is a very strong educational country, but many. I think Iowa, and I think Indiana, and a lot of these states that are well-run states. We have a lot of them that are very well run. When they run their own educational program, I think it's going to, I think they'll be able to compete with anybody. Then you're going to have the badly run states, like a guy like Gavin Newscum [sic] in California, where he does a poor job, and he'll, but even in California, you'll give it to Riverside. You'll give it, you know, you'll give it to areas of California where I think they'll run a great school program.

Indiana faces challenges with several key education benchmarks for elementary and secondary students. Earlier this year, 82.5 percent of third graders in public and private schools passed the state’s reading exam. Meanwhile, only 53 percent of high school graduates enrolled in college.

In 2022, Indiana students performed near the national average in reading and above the national average in math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly referred to as “the nation’s report card.”

The next round of NAEP results is expected in early 2025.

Eric Weddle is WFYI's education team editor. Contact Eric at eweddle@wfyi.org or follow on X at @ericweddle.