Erika Donalds is telling it like it is: Secretary Linda McMahon has begun the hard work of undoing a bloated federal education bureaucracy, but the final legal and legislative step belongs to Congress. Donalds — now a leading voice for parental rights and school choice — rightly reminded conservatives that dismantling the Department of Education will require statutory action and careful coordination with lawmakers who actually write the laws. Her point is simple and patriotic: return power to parents and states, but do it by the rules of our constitutional republic.
What McMahon has done so far is exactly what reformers hoped for: cutting waste, consolidating functions, and following presidential direction to “facilitate” returning authority to local communities rather than perpetuating one-size-fits-all D.C. diktats. The administration’s executive orders and reorganization plans are not reckless; they’re an effort to right-size an agency that has drifted far from educating children and closer to funding ideological experiments. Conservatives should applaud the administration for moving decisively where past presidents only complained.
Donalds’ stance isn’t mere rhetoric — it’s a practical roadmap for restoring excellence in classrooms across America. She has long championed policies that expand school choice, prioritize reading and math, and strip federal incentives for divisive DEI programs that harm students’ focus on learning. That conservative policy vision is already showing results in places where parents have options and local communities call the shots.
Of course, the left and its legal allies are scrambling to stop this overdue reform. Democratic attorneys general from multiple states have filed lawsuits aimed at blocking the department’s reorganization and the sensible workforce reductions that accompany it, arguing courts should freeze the administration’s efforts. Those lawsuits are predictable political theater — a last-ditch attempt to preserve a federal behemoth that has spent decades growing while student outcomes declined.
Make no mistake: the courts and bureaucrats are not the final arbiters of whether Washington continues to micromanage classrooms. Erika Donalds is right to call on Congress to act, because only Congress can repeal the statutes that created and empowered the Department of Education. Conservatives must channel their outrage into civic muscle — electing lawmakers who will follow through on dismantling unnecessary federal control and redirecting dollars to kids and parents.
Now is the moment for grassroots pressure and clear legislative plans, not handwringing. Support Linda McMahon where she fights to return power to families, back Erika Donalds and other reformers who are holding the line, and demand that Congress do its constitutional duty. If conservatives seize this opportunity, we can end the era of federal education meddling and unleash a renaissance of American schooling that puts students, not bureaucrats, first.
