Education Secretary Linda McMahon emphasized the failure of education spending and government programs and the need for reform after a new report illustrated the trend of falling scores and proficiency among American students.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released its scores from the previous year. The Nation’s Report Card showed that American eighth graders dropped four points on science and 12th graders dropped three points on reading and math since 2019. This continues a long trend of decreasing proficiency in math, science, and reading among American students. Government spending on education has gone up considerably since the 1960s, yet students are less educated and competent than ever before.

McMahon, who has been implementing Donald Trump‘s plan to return education to the states and, hopefully, abolish the Department of Education altogether, issued a statement on September 9 noting that the new data just provides more proof to support the critiques she and many others have made of our education system. “Today’s NAEP results confirm a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows across all of K-12,” she said.

“At a critical juncture when students are about to graduate and enter the workforce, military, or higher education, nearly half of America’s high school seniors are testing at below basic levels in math and reading,” she continued. “Despite spending billions annually on numerous K-12 programs, the achievement gap is widening, and more high school seniors are performing below the basic benchmark in math and reading than ever before.” That should not be acceptable. Meanwhile, teachers’ unions seem to spend all of their time and resources on indoctrinating kids about LGBTQ/CRT/DEI ideology and fighting Trump.

McMahon went straight to the heart of the problem: “The lesson is clear. Success isn’t about how much money we spend, but who controls the money and where that money is invested. That’s why President Trump and I are committed to returning control of education to the states so they can innovate and meet each school and students’ unique needs.”

For Our VIPs: Despite 154% Rise in School Spending Since 1970, Test Scores Have Fallen

In fact, as I wrote recently, U.S. spending on education increased 154% since 1970. Since 1960, K-12 education spending has quadrupled. And yet there are no measurable academic gains for that time period. Also noteworthy is the fact that hiring of school administrators has increased 709% since 1950, a staggering number, and one which illustrates that simply having more bureaucrats does not solve problems — it can even often create new problems.

McMahon was perfectly right to state, “If America is going to remain globally competitive, students must be able to read proficiently, think critically, and graduate equipped to solve complex problems. We owe it to them to do better.”

Until we have exorcised the wokeness from our schools, renewed curriculum to emphasize honest science, classic literature, accurate history, challenging mathematics, and practical skills, not to mention increasing grading standards and discipline, we cannot turn this crisis around.

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