This op-ed first appeared in Newsweek on April 18, 2025.
As graduation season approaches, some high school seniors face a sad reality: They never learned to read.
Graduates throughout the country are filing lawsuits against their schools for failing to teach them basic math and reading skills. One student plaintiff said he couldn't even spell his name. Too many K-12 schools in America have become failure factories.
Congress established the Department of Education as a cabinet-level agency in 1979 to "promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness." Since 1980, the Department of Education's spending has increased by 370 percent, yet American students rank 22nd in the world for educational performance.
Looking at these numbers, it is easy to understand why many Republicans have proposed shutting down the Department of Education altogether. American students would be better off if the states handled education—and my home state, Louisiana, provides a perfect example.
Between 2019 and 2024, Louisiana fourth graders went from ranking dead last in the country for reading proficiency to ranking 16th.
That improvement is even more breathtaking when one considers that it occurred during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Education Recovery Scorecard, which monitors how states have responded to the pandemic in terms of educational growth, American students are still half a grade year behind where they tested before the pandemic.
The pandemic resulted in the largest learning loss in modern history. An entire generation of students have fallen behind, and many states have failed to catch them back up. But not Louisiana.
Louisiana is the only state in the nation where the average student has fully recovered any academic losses sustained during the pandemic. Here's how: We looked around at our friends and neighbors in other states, and we adopted the policies that work best for Louisianians.
First, Louisiana gave teachers the tools they needed to be successful. In 2021, the state legislature passed a law mandating that all K-3 teachers receive advanced training on the best methods of teaching reading.
Louisiana also passed a law that requires all students to be reading at grade level before moving on to fourth grade. Children who are not at grade level receive "high-dosage tutoring" to catch them up to their peers. I worked hard to convince the state legislature to pass that bill because it made me sick to think a child would be unable to read in middle school—let alone on graduation day.
In addition to helping teachers, Louisiana also started giving parents a choice. Parents are far more invested in their child's academic success than any teacher, school administrator, or federal bureaucrat will ever be. No parent in America wants their child to be stuck in a school where violence is common and learning is rare.
Several states have successfully implemented school choice programs that give parents the ability to send their children to different public, private, or charter schools. This not only gives parents a choice—it also incentivizes schools to deliver better results. A study of these pro-school-choice states found that these programs result in higher test scores, parental satisfaction, and student safety.
Last year, Louisiana officially joined the school-choice club by passing the GATOR Act. Starting this fall, certain parents can access state-funded education savings accounts to send their children to the public, private, or charter schools of their choice. In three years, every student in Louisiana will be eligible for this program.
The status quo at the Department of Education isn't working, and the United States cannot afford to keep spending money on departments that don't deliver results for the American people. Louisiana's schools are far from perfect, but it is undeniable that our state is on the right track.
