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FIRST ON FOX — U.S. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon is pushing forward with the administration’s campaign to scale back federal education red tape, backing a national movement designed to bypass administrative bureaucracy and teachers unions.
The initiative, dubbed the Let Teachers Teach Coalition, aims to empower local educators and return decision-making authority to classrooms and school districts nationwide.
This coalition was launched on Thursday, Constitution Day, to strengthen civics and history education and “put teachers, parents, and students back at the center of America’s classrooms.”
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Secretary of Education Linda McMahon was charged with working to dismantle the Department of Education under an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
“Teachers dedicate their lives to the success and well-being of America’s children,” McMahon told Fox News Digital.
“Yet too often, their ability to do that work is constrained by bureaucracy, political agendas, and mandates that have little to do with helping students succeed,” she added. “The Let Teachers Teach Coalition is giving a voice to the educators who have spent too long navigating unnecessary regulations and restrictive systems. When we give teachers the freedom to focus on teaching, we create an environment where students, families, and communities can thrive and succeed.”
Spearheaded by the the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), the coalition provides educators and parents with toolkits to navigate local school board politics and directly engage board members. The goal is to equip current, former and retired teachers, along with administrators and parents, to drive policy shifts at the grassroots level.
“While some education policy is decided at the state and federal levels, many of the issues teachers face every day are determined by local school boards and districts,” AFPI announced in a statement. “Let Teachers Teach will build a national network of educators and equip them to drive change from the classroom up — identifying problems, advocating for solutions, and turning successful local policies into models that can be replicated across the country.”
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A Department of Education sign is displayed outside its federal student aid office on May 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
The coalition aligns directly with McMahon’s primary mandate from President Donald Trump: dismantling the traditional footprint of the federal Department of Education and returning governance directly to the states.
Department officials recently pointed to national test scores showing that only three in 10 students are proficient in math and reading — despite more than $3 trillion in federal taxpayer money spent since the department’s creation in 1979.
The movement coincides with McMahon’s ongoing 50-state “Returning Education to the States” tour and targeted local radio outreach, where she has been speaking directly with families about how K-12 schooling will look under the administration’s decentralization plan.
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A learning disabilities teacher conducts a lesson for kids at a Fairfax County public school. (@fairfaxcountypublicschools/Instagram)
To facilitate the wind-down of federal oversight, the administration has rolled out interagency agreements — including shifting student loan collection and management operations over to the Department of the Treasury. The administration is also championing the Education Freedom Tax Credit, set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, which will allow individuals to receive a tax credit up to $1,700 for contributions to approved scholarship-granting organizations.
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McMahon has repeatedly emphasized that the U.S. Department of Education does not set local curricula, buy textbooks, or hire teachers, describing the agency’s primary administrative function as a “pass-through” for federal funding.