If President Trump manages to close the Department of Education for good before he leaves office in 2029, it will be ranked as one of his greatest accomplishments behind keeping Hillary Clinton out of the Oval Office.
When the Department of Education was established by Jimmy Carter (need I say more?) in 1979 and opened under Ronald Reagan in May 1980, America led the world in education. Now, we rank 31st.
In many states, there are districts where few, if any, students are reading on grade level. In Illinois, there are 30 schools with zero literate children; in Maryland, the same can be said of many schools in the Baltimore district (but they'll have condom vending machines in elementary schools, so don't you worry!)
Nothing good has come from the Department of Education, but Democrats are clinging to it like the last lifeboat off the Titanic, and they're attacking Tom Tiffany for supporting the elimination of this useless government agency.
David Crowley: You cannot trust Tom Tiffany when it comes to education. He supported eliminating the Department of Education. When he served as state senator, he voted for one of the largest cuts in Wisconsin public school history. I went to public school, my kids go to public… pic.twitter.com/UVZwBRrTp1
— FactPost (@factpostnews) October 22, 2026
But here's the reality for Wisconsin students:
Recommended
69 percent of fourth graders can't read on grade level, and 47 percent of first graders can't. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) covered up more than 200 cases of educator sexual misconduct, and a majority of the state's districts — 370 out of 421 — were flagged for financial reporting deficiencies.
— Tom Tiffany (@TomTiffanyWI) December 29, 2025The “Year of the Kid” under @GovEvers was a failure:
-69% of WI 4th graders can’t read at grade level.
-47% of 1st graders can’t read at grade level.
-200+ teacher sexual misconduct cases were hidden.
-370/421 school districts were flagged for financial reporting deficiencies. https://t.co/nrHQCOXAfe
Yet we spend $18,000 per student and $24,000 per student in Milwaukee Public Schools, where black students test at the bottom nationally in reading and math.
The DPI also dramatically altered how school district performance is graded, and suddenly no schools were given the lowest ranking.
— Tiffany War Room (@TiffanyWarRoom) November 12, 2025It’s a scam that hides the truth from parents. Wisconsin’s education system is failing kids.
We need @TomTiffanyWI to clean it up and provide parents with honest A-F report cards that show how schools are performing. https://t.co/tLKPVhqYFy
Democrats also oppose school choice, which holds back students, including and especially low-income black and Hispanic students in Milwaukee. Tom Tiffany supports the Educational Freedom Tax Credit
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) October 20, 2026Democrats in Wisconsin are holding children and families in the state back from choosing the best education for their children.
The Educational Freedom Tax Credit was vetoed by @GovEvers.
Tom Tiffany vows to sign it when he is elected governor. pic.twitter.com/G03gQG2HkY
Crowley, on the other hand, voted against the largest general school aid increase back in 2019, while Tom Tiffany voted for it.
— Tiffany War Room (@TiffanyWarRoom) September 12, 2026
The Department of Education has done nothing to help Wisconsin students. By every objective measure, things have only gotten worse, especially in the post-COVID era, where the Department of Education worked with teachers unions to keep schools locked down for longer than necessary.
Now we have nearly 70 percent of fourth graders who can't read and nearly half of first graders who are in the same boat. Studies have shown that this failed education leads to two outcomes: prison or welfare. Wisconsin children deserve better. David Crowley will not give it to them, because he supports the failed, archaic, and bloated bureaucracy that got us into this mess in the first place.
Tom Tiffany will hold schools accountable, open school choice, and make Wisconsin a state where children from all neighborhoods get the good education they deserve.