Lee supports Trump-backed goal to abolish federal education department

Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday called President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to shut down the federal Department of Education a “great idea,” signaling support to shutter a federal oversight agency that provides accountability on issues such as disability rights but has no role in local curriculum standards.
But the Republican governor still wants the federal education funding that flows to the state. Tennessee relies on some $1.8 billion in federal program funding each year that primarily supports low-income students, students with disabilities and school lunch programs.
Trump has vowed to shutter the federal agency, which was established in 1979 and has become something of an avatar for conservative disgruntlement with public schools. Neither Trump nor his team have offered any significant detail on how his administration could play a role in winding down the federal department, which he called a “bloated and radical bureaucracy” in October.
More:Trump wants to close the Education Department. It’s far easier said than done.
“I think it’s a great idea that President Trump has. The particulars will have to be worked out,” Lee said. “I stand ready to work with the future president in determing how our state will spend those federal dollars more efficiently and more effectively to benefit the kids in Tennessee.”
Federal education funding emerged as a major Republican talking point last fall, when legislative leaders like House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, vowed Tennessee could forego federal education dollars, and the accompanying federal standards and oversight, and fill the budget gap with state money. Though Lee at the time decried federal “overreach” in education issues, he and Sexton, among others, struggled to identify major federal oversight issues affecting Tennessee besides testing they felt was unnecessary.
Though leading House Republicans were bullish on the idea, senators balked and released a report last year that found Tennessee would struggle to invest in other state needs if it gave up federal funding.
On Thursday, Lee said he believes Tennessee’s federal allocation should come in something like a block grant, similar to a Medicaid waiver Tennessee negotiated with Trump’s first administration.
“States know better how to spend money than the federal government does, particularly as it relates to programs that are in the state,” Lee said. “I don’t know what his plan will be there. I hope it looks something like the block grant, granting the dollars to state departments of education to be used in our state. We know we can do it more efficiently.”
Lee’s comments indicate he thinks similar federal education funding would be maintained even if the federal department is eliminated, though it’s not yet clear if that would be the case.
A right-wing policy blueprint called Project 2025, which Trump has distanced himself from but whose authors have close ties to his administration, calls for eventually eliminating Title I funding, a program that funds high-poverty schools, which could significantly impact Tennessee’s education budget.
More:Trump wants to close the Education Department. It’s far easier said than done.
Lee’s position follows similar comments made by legislative leaders in August supporting the policy. At the time, Lee’s office declined to comment.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, also supports ending the federal agency, saying that such a decision would “definitely affect the current conversation regarding federal funds in Tennessee.”
“I absolutely support abolishing the federal Department of Education which would return more money and control to the states,” McNally said in August. “The increased flexibility that would follow the abolition of the department would most certainly serve the goals of those who wish to relinquish federal funds, perhaps even making such a move entirely unnecessary.”