President Donald Trump didn’t hold back on Wednesday, calling the U.S. Department of Education a “con job” and blasting its abysmal performance despite record-high spending. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump pointed to a new report showing that the United States now ranks 40th in the world in education—while spending more per student than any other country on Earth.
“Look at the Department of Education. It’s a big con job,” Trump said. “We’re ranked No. 40, but we’re ranked No. 1 in one department: cost per pupil. So, we spend more per pupil than any other country in the world, but we’re ranked No. 40.”
Trump noted that the last time he checked, the U.S. was ranked 38th, but just days ago, the number had dropped even further. Meanwhile, China—a country with 1.4 billion people—ranks in the top five.
“That’s our primary competitor,” he said. “So if we’re ranked No. 40, that means something’s really wrong.”
In response, Trump has ordered Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to eliminate wasteful spending at the Department of Education. And on Monday, DOGE announced that $881 million in DOE contracts had been cut.
Of that total, a stunning $101 million had been funneled into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training—including programs that taught educators to “help students understand/interrogate the complex histories involved in oppression, and help students recognize areas of privilege and power.”
DOGE Director Musk didn’t mince words when revealing the details:
“Your tax dollars were spent on this,” Musk wrote, making it clear that Americans were footing the bill for ideological programming instead of actual education.
Trump’s Executive Orders: No More CRT, More School Choice
This crackdown on DOE waste comes after Trump signed two major executive orders on education last month.
- One order eliminates federal funding for K-12 schools that teach critical race theory (CRT) or other divisive racial and gender ideologies.
- The second order expands school choice, ensuring parents—not government bureaucrats—decide where their children go to school.
For years, parents have been showing up to school board meetings in record numbers, demanding accountability for what’s being taught in classrooms. Now, Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to cut off federal funding for any school pushing CRT, transgender ideology, or any other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content on children.
And this is just the beginning.
The Trump administration is reportedly weighing an even more aggressive move—dismantling the Department of Education entirely. According to a Wall Street Journal report last week, officials are actively discussing plans to shut the agency down and return control over education back to states, where parents and local leaders have a say.
For decades, the DOE has ballooned into a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy that spends billions while test scores continue to decline. Trump’s latest actions suggest that he’s not just trimming the fat—he’s preparing to take a sledgehammer to the system itself.
