Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) on Senate Bill 5384: "Returning Education to Our States Act"

Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D has introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act (Senate Bill 5384) to eliminate the US Department of Education and “redistribute all critical functions under other departments.”  

The Bill was referred to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on November 21, 2024, but currently has no co-sponsors. Senate Bill 5384 can be tracked at Congress.gov.

In introducing S.5384, Rounds stated that “Local school boards and state departments of education know best what their students need, not unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.”

According to Government Executive:

Education programs would be spread across the departments of Interior, Treasury, Health and Human Services, Labor and State. Initiatives supporting Native Americans would go to Interior, various loan and the Pell Grant programs would transfer to Treasury, programs supporting special education and disabled children would move to HHS, efforts to fund vocational and career programs would shift to Labor and the Fulbright-Hays Program would fall under State. Not all of Education would receive a reassignment: programs involving teacher preparation, initiatives for economically disadvantaged students, work-study and many others do not appear to receive a home under the bill.