South Dakota senator proposes bill to eliminate Department of Education

The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would make the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) obsolete.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, pre-filed bill S. 5384, also called the “Returning Education to Our States Act,” in November.

It has since been read and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. 

S. 5384 would reshuffle the functions of the education department. For example: 

• Services related to special needs and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) would be reassigned to the Department of Health and Human Services.  
• Federal student aid and other funding matters would be transferred to the Department of the Treasury.  
• The Secretary of the Treasury would be responsible for allocating funds for states to spend on elementary, secondary and postsecondary education.  
• Civil rights complaints and Title IX issues would be handled by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.  
• The Office of Indian Education would be transferred to the Department of the Interior. 

If the bill passed both chambers, it would take effect 180 days after being signed into law.

Rounds told ABC News the bill is a serious proposal – not political grandstanding. 

“We want to do it right,” the senator said. “This is not just a ‘make noise’ bill. This is a serious [bill]. It’s taken us a year and a half to write this bill.” 

He knows eliminating the DOE will be a complicated process. 

“We’ve tried to set this up so that some of it could be done within reconciliation. Some of it we’ll have to gain consensus on by executive order, some of which may very well take 60 votes. So we might not get everything we want,” Rounds explained.

Reconciliation is when the Senate passes legislation with a 51-vote majority, bypassing the threat of a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to defeat. It is used for matters related to taxes and spending, according to the Brookings Institution.

Rounds echoed President-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric about empowering the states, while wanting to keep the education department’s essential services. 

“We don’t want to lose the specific offices that deliver particular congressionally directed funds, such as special education, IDEA and so forth,” Rounds concluded. “All of that is included in a redirection to other locations, but all those offices still remain with the focus of sending that money back [to the states].” 

Trump also selected Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education to deliver his agenda of sending “Education BACK TO THE STATES.”