America’s schools are finally getting the wake-up call they desperately needed, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon made that case bluntly this week when she pushed back against shrill claims that the administration is “defunding” education. McMahon announced bold interagency agreements to move redundant Department of Education functions to Labor, State, Interior, and HHS as part of a campaign promise to end Washington’s strangling micromanagement. The secretary made clear these moves are about efficiency and local control, not abandoning students or funding.
Conservatives should be proud to see real action instead of the usual political theater: McMahon and her team have used existing authorities to transfer grants and programs where they can be administered more effectively, pointing out that much federal spending is simply a pass-through that doesn’t teach a single child. She specifically highlighted transfers of workforce and career-technical grants and defended uninterrupted delivery of Title I and other vital supports that Congress funds. This is practical governance — not the fearmongering the left and its media allies peddle to protect the bureaucracy.
Let’s be honest: the federal education racket has delivered dismal results for decades while expanding paperwork and political indoctrination in classrooms. McMahon didn’t tiptoe around the facts — too many American kids can’t read at grade level and young adults are drowning in useless debt — and she’s right to demand a hard reset that returns authority to parents and local schools. Conservatives know that local accountability, school choice, and the science of reading beat federal mandates and woke curricula every time.
Predictably, a chorus of anti-Trump voices jumped into full outrage mode, weaponizing culture-war panic to defend the very federal empire that failed our children. Democrats and much of the media would rather scream “defund” than admit their policies created the mess in the first place, and they are using every scare tactic to stop reforms that hand power back to families. Their reflexive defense of bureaucracy over kids reveals their priorities — power, not pupils.
McMahon’s 50-state tour and direct appeals to governors, superintendents, and parents are the opposite of the Washington playbook — it’s the American way. She’s asking Congress to codify successful transfers so tomorrow’s classrooms won’t be hostage to D.C. impulse and partisan whim, and conservatives in Congress should move quickly to lock in reforms that preserve crucial funding while eliminating waste and mandates. If we want schools that teach reading, math, and civic virtue instead of political theory, now is the time to back her and push these changes across the finish line.
The bottom line is simple: this administration is delivering substance where the left offered only slogans, and Secretary McMahon is doing the hard work of dismantling a broken federal monopoly on education. Hardworking Americans who cherish local control and parental rights should stand with her against the panic merchants and bureaucratic defenders. Support for these reforms isn’t “defunding” children — it’s finally funding their future the right way.
