Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee helps Trump disbanding Division of Schooling

Republican Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee instructed Fox Information Digital that he believes President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory indicators success for a second faculty selection invoice launched to the state legislature this week after his first proposal failed this 12 months. 

Lee mentioned he agreed with Trump’s guarantees to dismantle the U.S. Division of Schooling, echoing the president-elect’s concern over the federal paperwork turning into entrenched with gender and race ideology quite than studying.

“I believe it’s a nice thought to dismantle the Division of Schooling federally. And I am a robust believer that coverage on the state degree ought to be dealt with by states, that states know finest,” Lee instructed Fox Information Digital. “On this case, states actually know finest. We all know finest in Tennessee what our youngsters want and the way finest to teach our youngsters. The mother and father of this state ought to be given a larger affect on how their children are educated, and that can occur if the federal Division of Schooling is dismantled and people funds are delivered to states for use in a extra environment friendly and simpler manner.”

Lee mentioned the political setting on the bottom within the state isn’t what it was months in the past when the primary faculty selection proposal failed within the state legislature. Since then, the election noticed a wave of pro-school selection candidates win on the state-level, and Trump succeeded in his bid for the White Home.

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Gov. Invoice Lee discusses the devastation from Hurricane Helene on the Tennessee Emergency Administration Company on Oct. 2, 2024, in Nashville. (Mark Zaleski/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK through Imagn Photos)

“President Trump has lengthy believed that college selection is necessary for the folks of this nation and that training freedom is one thing that each one Individuals may have. He is talked about it. He campaigned on it,” Lee mentioned. “One factor could be very evident about what occurred final week. And President Trump could be very clear about what his insurance policies are, and Individuals have been very clear about their acceptance of these insurance policies final week. They, with a robust mandate, mentioned we like what we hear. We wish him to execute on these issues and that President Trump has a major understanding and a transparent understanding and is the chief, frankly, on the difficulty of faculty selection. All of these issues profit us as we transfer into this subsequent session.”

Lee’s new faculty selection invoice, titled the Schooling Freedom Act of 2025, was collectively launched to the state Home and Senate on Wednesday.

Drawing from funding already accredited by the state legislature, the invoice would permit the state Division of Schooling to award as much as 20,000 scholarships – valued at about $7,000 every – for the following faculty 12 months to be spent on tuition, tutoring, expertise and examination bills. The primary 10,000 scholarships can be put aside for low-income college students whose mother and father won’t in any other case afford to ship their youngsters to establishments aside from the general public colleges of their districts. 

Democrats have painted faculty selection as disenfranchising low-income college students, however Lee mentioned he feels the alternative.

“Each child is exclusive. Each child has completely different studying types. Each child has a special life scenario. And each household should have the chance to decide on the most effective path for his or her child,” the governor mentioned. “Specifically, I do not suppose that solely the rich households that may afford a non-public choice, that these households ought to be the one ones and people youngsters ought to be the one ones which have that choice for selection.”

President-elect Trump has been shaping up his Cupboard nominations. (Jabin Botsford/Washington Publish through Getty Photos)

“Oftentimes, opponents will say that college selection initiatives harm public colleges. I believe that is simply the alternative,” Lee mentioned. “This laws that we’re truly bringing forth is an training coverage initiative. It isn’t simply an Schooling Freedom Scholarship invoice. It contains historic funding for public colleges, bonuses for academics, for public faculty academics. We are going to embrace alongside with this laws a trainer pay elevate plan that can put us within the high 15 states for trainer pay elevate within the nation.”

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Lee famous that about 30 states have already got faculty selection, 12 of which have common faculty selection, and several other of these states have handed their initiatives lately. 

“Individuals are in rising numbers, and now the vast majority of Individuals, as evidenced by the previous elections, have come to consider that college selection is the best way of the long run,” Lee mentioned. “It’s the reply to difficult the established order. It’s the manner that we take America’s rankings and academic outcomes that was the highest on the earth from manner down the listing because it pertains to different nations again up into the outcomes that we hope for this nation.”

“This can be a option to problem and alter and convey innovation into an training system that is grown stale and bloated and bureaucratic,” Lee mentioned. “And we see it taking place all throughout America. We consider it should occur in Tennessee. It’s an extremely necessary second in our nation for parental rights and for the way forward for youngsters and their training.” 

Lee mentioned his education rising up in Tennessee occurred earlier than the U.S. Division of Schooling was established in 1979. 

“We knew the best way to do it then. We all know the best way to do it now,” Lee mentioned, explaining that Tennessee created a funding components that “uniquely acknowledges the wants of kids with disabilities, with dyslexia and with English as a second language. “We all know the best way to fund training for Tennessee youngsters. We all know significantly better than they do in a bureaucratic establishment just like the federal Division of Schooling. I believe President Trump is precisely proper. I believe it is an excellent thought.”

Tennessee Gov. Invoice Lee seems to be at a piece of Interstate 26 over the Nolichucky River that collapsed throughout a flood in Erwin on Oct. 1, 2024. (Brianna Paciorka/Information Sentinel/USA TODAY NETWORK through Imagn Photos)

“As a governor, I might welcome the partnership with President Trump in permitting states to decide on and decide how finest to spend training {dollars} for his or her children,” he added.

If Trump goes by means of with eliminating the U.S. Division of Schooling, specialists anticipate the method may take a number of years. 

With Cupboard nominations underway, Fox Information Digital requested Lee who he wish to see as Trump’s training secretary and if the governor would contemplate throwing his personal identify within the operating.

“What I’ll say is and what I hope is that whoever takes this job is trying to work themselves out of a job,” Lee mentioned. “It’ll take the correct of chief who actually understands, and I believe, who actually understands how states can operate and the way problematic for states federal bureaucracies are. Governors perceive that. There are numerous of us who can be well-qualified for this, however the subsequent particular person must be hoping to work themselves out of a job.”

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On the heels of the devastation introduced by Hurricane Helene, the governor mentioned the brand new faculty selection invoice would additionally commit state {dollars} from its sports activities playing income to the development and upkeep of public faculty amenities. The invoice additionally provides $2,000 one-time bonuses to each trainer within the state and guarantees supplemental funding for varsity districts affected by enrollment drops.

“We will have the most effective public colleges in America,” Lee mentioned. “We will commit the correct amount of funds and the correct amount of focus. We will strengthen and assist our public colleges in unprecedented methods and supply freedom and alternative for fogeys and selection. On the similar time, these usually are not mutually unique. The truth is, they should not be. We must always enhance each instructional alternative for each child in our state and can achieve this by means of this laws.”