One of Trump’s big talking points during the election was eliminating the Department of Education and turning control of schools over to the states. This TikTok video from a teacher who goes by the screen name mrs.frazzled, talks about some of the ways Trump gets education in the U.S. wrong.
The United States vs. the world
Trump claims we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but rank dead last in education. In reality, the United States ranked 18th out of 80 on the latest PISA, per the fact checker.
Glancing through the report, I’m not sure exactly where she pulled that ranking from, as I was only able to find rankings based on specific subjects, such as math and reading, but I have linked the report, if you want to fact-check the fact checker. For the record, it appears that in 2022, the U.S. did better than average in reading, but below average in math, but still nowhere near the bottom in either.
Obviously, rankings vary depending on the metrics used. This Pew Research Center study examines how Americans generally think our education system stacks up worse versus other countries than it actually does. In reality, we do better than some other wealthy countries in some areas and worse in others.
Education spending
mrs.frazzled points out that spending doesn’t necessarily translate to educational success. Additionally, it is difficult to directly compare spending in the U.S. to other countries, because we don’t fund our schools the same way.
Funding for U.S. schools comes primarily from state and local property taxes, which mrs.frazzled asserts leads to inequity with schools located in poorer areas receiving less funding than schools in wealthier areas. She also cites systemic inequalities, lack of teacher support, and not enough federal oversight as issues that impact the quality of education in the U.S.
She points out that schools in the countries Trump mentions as doing well are federally funded, rather than relying on state-run programs like in the United States. However, after doing some research on the topic, I’m not sure she is right about this, as it seems like many of these school systems, such as Sweden and China, have state and local funding sources supplemented by federal funding, much like the United States.
However, her overall point that direct comparison is difficult due to differences in funding methods is valid. Additionally, she points out that many of the better-performing countries also have universal healthcare, subsidized childcare, higher teacher pay, and low poverty rates, which likely all contribute to better outcomes.
State vs. federal control
Trump justifies eliminating the Department of Education by saying states should control education. However, the states already run public schools.
The federal government provides oversight and additional funding to help with special education, civil rights enforcement, and assistance for economically disadvantaged students. These protections are particularly important for students who have disabilities, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community, all groups the Trump administration has antagonized both on the campaign trail and with Trump’s early executive orders.
mrs.frazzled points out that some states, particularly red ones, perform worse than others when it comes to education and simply handing control over to the states isn’t likely to improve outcomes.
Role of teacher’s unions
Trump, who is notoriously anti-union, blames the Teachers’ Unions for holding up progress and even claims they are the only group that opposes his education reforms. mrs.frazzled claims that states with strong unions consistently outperform right-to-work states. However, I wasn’t able to find much research to back up this claim, with most of it indicating the topic is complex and there isn’t a clear connection one way or the other between unions and student performance.
Overall, I tend to agree with the creator of this video, though I’d say this is less “fact-checking” than it is expressing her opinions, some of which the data backs up and some do not. It is my opinion, that Trump’s assault on the Department of Education is likely motivated by two things, a desire to pander to his base and a desire to remove federal protections that compel schools to protect marginalized students. I believe it is also paving the way to further dismantle public education, funneling wealthier kids into private and religious schools and poorer kids into homeschooling and the workforce.
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