Tennessee Governor Bill Lee supports Trump’s dissolution of the Department of Education

Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee told Fox News Digital that he believes newly elected President Donald Trump’s decisive victory is a sign of success for a second school choice bill introduced in the state legislature this week after his first proposal failed this year.

Lee said he agreed with Trump’s promises to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, echoing the president-elect’s concerns about the federal bureaucracy becoming entrenched in gender and racial ideology rather than learning.

‘I think it’s a good idea to dismantle it Ministry of Education federal. And I strongly believe that policy at the state level should be handled by states, that states know best,” Lee told Fox News Digital. “In this case, states certainly know best. In Tennessee, we know best what our children need and how to best raise our children. The parents of this state should have a greater influence on how their children are educated, and that will happen if the federal Department of Education is dismantled and those funds are given to the states to be used in a more efficient and effective manner .

Lee said the political climate in the state is not what it was months ago, when the first school choice proposal failed in the state Legislature. Since then, state-level elections have seen a wave of pro-school choice candidates win, and Trump has succeeded in his bid to capture the White House.

TRUMP PLANS TO SHIFT CONTROL OF SCHOOL FUNDING TO LOCAL COMMUNITIES, YET TO CHOOSE DOE SECRETARY

“President Trump has long believed that school choice is important to the people of this country and that educational freedom is something that all Americans could have. He has spoken about it and campaigned on it,” Lee said. “One thing is very clear about what happened last week. And President Trump is very clear about what his policy is, and Americans were very clear last week about their acceptance of that policy. They, with a strong mandate, said we like what we do. We want him to implement these things and for President Trump to have significant understanding and understanding and, quite frankly, to be the leader on school choice. All of these things will benefit us as we move into this next session. “

Lee’s new school choice bill, titled the Education Freedom Act of 2025, was jointly introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate on Wednesday.

Drawing from already approved funding by the state legislaturethe bill would allow the state Department of Education to award up to 20,000 scholarships — worth about $7,000 each — for the next school year, to be spent on tuition, tutoring, technology and exam fees. The first 10,000 scholarships would be reserved for low-income students whose parents might otherwise not be able to afford to send their children to institutions other than the public schools in their districts.

Democrats have portrayed school choice as disenfranchising low-income students, but Lee said he feels the opposite.

“Every child is unique. Every child has different learning styles. Every child has a different life situation. And every family should have the opportunity to choose the best path for their child,” the governor said. “Specifically, I don’t think it’s just the wealthy families who can afford a private option, that those families should be the only ones and those children should be the only ones who have that option.”

“Often opponents will say that school choice initiatives hurt public schools. I think that’s quite the opposite,” Lee said. “This legislation that we are actually putting forward is an education policy initiative. It is not just an Education Freedom Scholarship bill. It includes historic funding for public schools, bonuses for teachers, for public school teachers. In addition to this legislation, we will implement a Teacher Pay Increase Plan that will place us in the top 15 states for teacher pay increases in the country.”

BETSY DEVOS JOINS TRUMP’S CALL TO ‘DISCOUNT’ THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND ‘RE-EMPOWER’ FAMILIES

Lee noted that about 30 states already have school choice, 12 of which have universal school choice, and that several of those states have adopted their initiatives in recent years.

“More and more Americans are coming, and now the majority of Americans, as evidenced by the last election, have come to believe that school choice is the way of the future,” Lee said. “It is the answer to challenging the status quo. It is how we take America’s rankings and educational outcomes, which used to be at the top of the world, from way down the charts when it comes to other countries, back to the outcomes we hope for this country.”

“This is a way to meet challenges, change and bring innovation to an education system that has become stale, bloated and bureaucratic,” Lee said. “And we see it happening all over America. We believe it’s going to happen in Tennessee. It’s an incredibly important moment in our country for parental rights and for the future of children and their education.”

Lee said he grew up in Tennessee before the U.S. Department of Education was created in 1979.

“We knew how to do it then. We know how to do it now,” Lee said, explaining that Tennessee created a funding formula that “uniquely addresses the needs of children with disabilities, with dyslexia, and with English as second language.” We know how to fund education for Tennessee children. We know much better than they do in a bureaucratic institution like the Federal Ministry of Education. I think President Trump is exactly right. I think it’s a great idea.”

“As governor, I would welcome the partnership with President Trump to let states choose and determine how to best spend education dollars for their children,” he added.

If Trump continues to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, experts expect the process could take several years.

As Cabinet nominations were underway, Fox News Digital asked Lee who he would like to see as Trump’s education secretary and whether the governor would consider putting his own name in the running.

“What I’m saying is and I hope whoever takes this job wants to work themselves out of a job,” Lee said. “It takes a leader who really understands, and I think, really understands how states can function and how problematic federal bureaucracies are for states. Governors understand that. There are a lot of people who would be well qualified for this, but the next person has to hope to work themselves out of a job.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, the governor said the new school choice law would also direct state dollars from sports gambling revenues to the construction and maintenance of public school facilities. The bill also provides one-time bonuses of $2,000 to every teacher in the state and promises additional funding for school districts affected by enrollment declines.

“We can have the best public schools in America,” Lee said. “We can free up the right amount of money and the right amount of focus. We can strengthen and support our public schools in unprecedented ways and provide parents with freedom and opportunity. At the same time, these are not mutually exclusive. They shouldn’t be. We must improve every educational opportunity for every child in our state and we will do that through this legislation.”