
Tennessee governor backs Trump plan to nix Department of Education, sees bellwether on new school choice bill
Fox News
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who introduced a new school choice bill, said he supports President-elect Donald Trump's promise to disband the U.S. Department of Education.
"I think it is a great idea to dismantle the Department of Education federally. And I'm a strong believer 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. We know best in Tennessee what our children need and how best to educate our kids. The parents of this state should be given a greater influence on how their kids are educated, and that will happen if the federal Department of Education is dismantled and those funds are delivered to states to be used in a more efficient and more effective way." Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to danielle.wallace@fox.com and on X: @danimwallace.
Lee said the political environment on the ground in the state is not what it was months ago when the first school choice proposal failed in the state legislature. Since then, the election saw a wave of pro-school choice candidates win at the state-level, and Trump succeeded in his bid for the White House.













