Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon delivered remarks at American Preparatory Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah to highlight the Trump Administration’s unprecedented progress in restoring excellence in K-12 education.
Below is her speech, as prepared for delivery:
Hello, American Preparatory Academy! Thank you all so much for welcoming me to the state of Utah.
We are all here because we understand that there is no higher or more sacred duty than to educate our children. And today, we commit ourselves to restoring an education worthy of them – one that rekindles the excellence that once defined our nation.
American schooling, for generations, was the envy of the world. Our classrooms were grounded in the fundamentals of reading, math, and science. Every morning, students stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and they learned the history of the country they were growing up to inherit. Children were truly known, not merely enrolled; parents were active partners in their children’s learning; and communities understood that educating the next generation was too important a responsibility to hand off to someone far away.
Of course, no era in our nation’s education has been perfect – and over time, we have made great strides to expand equal opportunity and access to education to millions of students.
But along the way, we lost something essential: a foundation in the basics that must anchor every education.
Decisions were pulled farther from families, teachers, and children – and into a labyrinth of districts, departments, and administrative offices.
Teachers, once trusted to teach, were burdened with more mandates, more paperwork, and more programs to manage. As Washington’s influence broadened, federal priorities drifted away from the fundamentals – and toward politicians’ preferred ideological and social agendas. Education transformed from a solemn duty into a bureaucratic monstrosity, with thousands of administrators dictating decisions for students they never meet.
Just months before I was sworn in as Secretary of Education, a news story stopped me in my tracks.
It centered on a high school graduate in Connecticut. From the outside, her story looked like every parent’s hope: she graduated with honors, earned a scholarship, and was starting college.
But this same young girl decided to sue her local education board, alleging that she could not read or write.
She argued that she was pushed through years of schooling without ever receiving the support she needed to master even the most essential skills.
This young lady’s school district has a budget of over $400 million. During her time there, the district employed about 1,800 non-teaching staff – such as a Chief of Talent and DEI, earning nearly $200,000 a year. When this young woman was in high school, the Biden Administration devoted competitive grant funding to her district – not to provide extra support for the essentials like literacy, but to sponsor professional development surrounding “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and “gender-informed practices.”
We know this young woman is not alone. Over the past 46 years, Americans have poured over $3 trillion into a 4,000-person Department of Education intended to improve student outcomes – yet only about 30% of our nation’s students are proficient in reading and math.
How – in America – have we allowed this to happen?
The answer: for the past five decades, our education system has been co-opted to place the enrichment and priorities of adults over the flourishing of children.
I am here today because, thanks to President Trump, we’ve made the most significant turnaround in half a century to reorient the structure and the culture of American education to center fully on students.
In every decision we make, we are not asking what’s better for growing government power, ideological agendas, or bureaucrats’ careers. We are returning education to its most basic obligation: to nurture the God-given potential of our children.
First, we have transformed how our nation invests in education.
At the direction of President Trump, we have taken billions away from D-E-I classroom initiatives and bureaucrat-centric projects and reinvested those dollars to supercharge the fundamentals: the ability to read well, write clearly, understand mathematics, and think critically.
We have invested nearly $500 million to help states build world‑class tutoring models and instructional programs grounded in the Science of Reading – a proven, phonics‑based method that is transforming literacy outcomes nationwide.
Instead of hiring more federal administrators, we are reorienting education spending back to the people who make learning possible: our teachers. Tens of millions of dollars are now expanding high‑quality literacy training for educators and bolstering instruction in other vital subjects like mathematics.
We are strengthening our nation’s promise to every vulnerable child – directing federal resources with unprecedented force toward the students and families who need them most. Thanks to President Trump, states this year received an additional $144 million surge to strengthen special education and early‑intervention services for children with disabilities. And the Trump Administration is petitioning Congress not for more resources for the Department of Education, but for America’s children – calling for over half a billion dollars in additional funding to expand states’ support for individuals with disabilities.
We’ve invested more than $170 million to support states to teach the next generation an accurate and complete account of our nation’s history – our failures, our victories, and our principles that make the United States the most extraordinary nation on Earth.
And as Secretary of Education, I issued a letter to all 50 states encouraging them to once again give our children the opportunity to recite our Pledge of Allegiance – so American classrooms become places where students claim their place in our nation’s story.
Together, these efforts finally return the fundamentals to their rightful place at the center of American education.
As we right-size federal involvement in education, this Administration has fundamentally shifted decision‑making in this country – lifting authority out of the hands of distant administrators in Washington, DC, and placing it back with those who know best how to meet students’ day-to-day learning needs: teachers, local, and state education leaders.
America does not have one education system – it has fifty, each with its unique strengths, challenges, and children.
In Alabama, leaders met a math crisis head‑on with the Numeracy Act – and delivered the largest 4th‑grade math increase in the nation since before the pandemic.
In Rhode Island, amid serious attendance challenges, leaders designed a plan that identified local patterns and engaged families directly – driving one of the nation’s biggest attendance turnarounds.
Here in Utah, Governor Cox pioneered a bold new model for workforce readiness through the Utah First Credential Program, ensuring students can graduate from high school with an industry-aligned credential that translates directly into college credit. Today, more than 61,000 Utah students have seized that opportunity, gaining a powerful jumpstart to college and careers.
These are remarkable successes – and they didn’t come from thousands of pages of federal regulations. They’re powered by local ingenuity and freedom, the sparks of American excellence.
Now, for the first time in fifty years, President Trump is pulling Washington back so states can surge forward, putting local leaders in the driver’s seat to innovate and better serve their students.
Through our first‑ever Returning Education to the States Waivers, more than $120 million has been taken out of Washington’s grip and placed directly back into the hands of state leaders. These states have the authority to direct more of their federal education dollars where they make the most sense for their students – whether that means strengthening literacy, accelerating mathematics, or driving attendance gains – rather than obeying mandates from bureaucrats thousands of miles away.
A record 27 states also now exercise Ed‑Flex authority – giving their leaders the power to lift thousands of school districts out from under mountains of federal red tape and paperwork, so they can focus more energy on students.
And just this summer, we announced one of the landmark achievements to return education to the states: a world-class framework – built by states, with states, and for states – that equips them to take back the reins of education with confidence.
The Learning Agenda Playbook provides a clear, practical roadmap for states to turn their strategic plans into action by pinpointing their biggest challenges, drawing lessons from real case studies, and making evidence‑based decisions to bolster student success. Already, eight pilot states – including Utah! – have used it to solve problems in their own communities, from strengthening teacher retention to bolstering early literacy.
The final pillar of our restoration of American excellence is by far the most important.
Thanks to President Trump, we are restoring the greatest power to the most essential decision-makers in a child’s education: their parents.
Parents here, please raise your hands!
As a mother and grandmother, I know firsthand that even the best civil servant cannot care more about your child’s education than you do.
And today, we return that rightful authority to you.
Within just months of entering office, President Trump secured the largest national expansion of education freedom in our nation’s history through the Education Freedom Tax Credit, putting you in the driver’s seat to choose the best education for your child – not one dictated by ZIP code or family income.
Thirty-one states – including Utah – have raced into this historic opportunity, which benefits families no matter what school their child attends. Some will use it to obtain a scholarship to a private school. Others will choose to access tutoring or after school programs for their child in his or her existing public school. Whatever a parent decides for their child, our country now affirms what should have always been evident: that choice belongs with you.
And the Trump Administration is driving that momentum forward with an unprecedented investment in charter schools – devoting one billion dollars so far to expand high‑quality options for families nationwide.
And parents: wherever your child learns, we are safeguarding your right to know what is happening inside those walls – keeping you at the heart of every decision that shapes your child’s life.
Together, these principles – returning to the fundamentals, restoring state and local authority, and putting families back in charge – define our vision for American education. And that vision is coming to life right now: in classrooms, in communities, and in the renewed confidence in our schooling across America.
So, what does the future of American K-12 education look like?
It is a future where every child learns through proven instruction and receives timely support when he or she falls behind.
Students know the American story and recognize citizenship as both a privilege and a responsibility.
Children have the freedom to play, to read, to grow in innocence – and to dwell fully in that brief, irreplaceable window of wonder we call childhood.
Parents can see clearly what their children are being taught – never again being shut out of the decisions that shape their lives.
Teachers spend their days teaching, not drowning in red tape.
States direct resources toward their highest priorities and are held accountable for results.
And federal funds reward evidence, excellence, and innovation – not ideology or administrative growth.
Together, these principles bring us back to where we are today: American Preparatory Academy.
This school – and all of you here – remind us that education begins not in Washington, but in the hearts and homes of parents who shape their children’s futures, joined by teachers and communities who lift those dreams higher.
America’s next 250 years will be authored by the children learning here today. And together, we are delivering an education turnaround that honors their God-given potential.
Thank you. God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.