of the rules of the house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on february 13, 2025, at 4:29 p.m. that the senate passed, senate 146. signed, sincerely, kevin f. mccumber. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 13 of rule 1, the house stands adjourned until 1:00 p.m. on tuesday, february 18, 2025. sending into the full chamber

for further consideration. also on the congressional checklist, a spending package to fund the federal government. follow live coverage of the house on c-span, on our website c-span.org and our free app, c-span now. some of the worst schools i have ever seen in my life. my kids did not go to them because they were so substandard. unfortunately, there are good teachers in the system but they have to buy materials for the kids themselves. host: when you had the education sec. and republicans talk about sending education down to the state level and not having federal government agency, what is your reaction to that idea? caller: bad idea. we have a racist governor who is trying to take african-american

studies out of schools. african-american studies are part of american history. this guy is outrageous, and that is the problem. if you let the states handle it, there will not be any continuity on how people should be educated in this country. that is what i have to say. host: all right, democratic color. myra in chestertown, maryland. good morning. how would you change education? caller: good morning to you. my concern is the last four years, there isn't any homework. i think children are so behind in chestertown, maryland -- goodness, they do not have anything to -- how do i say this -- to keep themselves occupied, like we did when i was a child. i just think education, they

need to put more homework, bring it back to where we used to have it. that is what i am concerned about. i think they would learn more. 2 ok. -- host: ok. myra calling for more homework in schools. gwen in detroit, democratic caller. caller: thanks for taking my call pure what changes should be made to education in the united states? that is just not normal. we are acting like, ok, what should we do today, what should we do tomorrow? education department is being taken over. let me say it -- don't hang up -- you just hung up on me? host: no, i am nowhere near the button. go ahead. caller: ok. one thing we do not need is for

christian religion, christian nationalism, to be put in our schools, a trump bible on every desk. we do not need to be converted do you know what i am saying? so this is not normal. we should not be asking what should we do, we should be asking, how can we stop this takeover? host: and when you say takeover, are you referring to a takeover of the education department? caller: yes. they have kicked everybody out, locked the doors. not just the education, our government. what can we do to stop this takeover? because that is what is happening. host: all right. lydia, easton, maryland, independent. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i think we have to consider, when they talk about the united states is top spending in the education, the other countries do not have all the

extracurricular activities, the sports, music, all the travel that kids do after school at our expense, so we are not comparing apples and apples, we are comparing apples and oranges. if you want to cut the costs, then cut all those extracurricular programs. thank you very much for taking my call. host: anna in california, democratic caller. we're getting your thoughts this morning on changes to the education system in this country. caller: good morning. i cannot believe that all our children, and i mean all our children, with this change, with this new administration, what they are trying to do is erase history, erase difference, erase everything that means that you are a human being. and reducing that to saving

money. i cannot believe the heartless. host: give me an example of what you are referring to. caller: trans people, trans children, even scientifically we know there is not just a man and a woman. we have evolved. can we be human? can we please the human and stop talking about taking things away from children? host: you may be interested in this moment from the confirmation hearing for linda mcmahon to serve as education secretary. here is senator chris murphy of connecticut questioning the nominee about president trump's executive order eliminating funding for programs that support d.e.i., diversity equity and inclusion, what that means

for public schools. [video clip] >> if a school in connecticut celebrates martin luther king day and has a series of events and programming teaching about black history, are they in violation of a policy that says schools should stop running d.e.i. programs? >> not in my view, that is clearly not the case. the celebration of martin luther king day and black history month should be celebrated throughout all of our schools. i believe that martin luther king was one of the strongest components of making sure that we look at all of our populations. he said he would hope his children would not be judged by the color of their skin or content of their character, and i think that is the fundamental basis we should celebrate black history month with. >> west point has closed down all ethnic clubs, so the society of black engineers cannot meet

because they believed to be in compliance with this order, they cannot have troops structured around ethnic or racial affiliations. will public schools be in violation of this order? will they risk funding if they have clubs that students can belong to based on racial or ethnic identity? >> i certainly do not want to address hypothetical situations at once confirmed, i would like to get in and assess these programs and look at what has been -- >> isn't that a pretty easy one? you are saying it is a possibility that if a school has a club for vietnamese-american students or black students where they meet after school, that they could be potentially in jeopardy of losing federal funding? >> again, i would like to fully understand what it is and what those clubs are doing. >> that is pretty chilling. i think schools all around the country are going to hear that. what about educational

programming centered around racial experiences? my son is in public school and takes a class called african-american history. if you are running the african-american history class, could you perhaps be in violation of this executive order? >> i am not quite certain and would like to look into it further and get back to you. >> there is a possibility, you are saying, that public schools that run african-american history classes, a class that has been taught in public schools for decades, could lose federal funding if they continue to teach african-american history? >> no, that is not what i am saying, i am saying i would like to take a look at the programs to fully understand the breadth of the executive order and get back to you on that. host: linda mcmahon sitting before senators yesterday in a confirmation hearing, getting peppered with questions about how she would steer the education department in a second

term of the trump administration . the education department this morning is our topic for conversation. what changes would you make? here are the numbers for the federal department, it began operating in 1980 and employs 4400 people and has a budget of $238 billion for 2024, 1.8% of the overall federal budget. 1.8% of it is this money for the education department. jerry in minnesota, a republican. you are next. caller: thanks for taking my call. i believe dismantling the federal department of education, like you say, it began in 1980, before 1980 we never had a department of education on the federal level. every state has department of

education. they have elected people who run the school districts, and that is good enough. we did a very good job with that for about 200 years, and we should dismantle the u.s. department of education. host: all right. ruby in richmond, virginia, what do you say? caller: yes, people probably do not know the history of this, but in 1954 they closed the schools if they did not obey the law of the land, and i went there in 1965 as a volunteer student. and some people who lived there told me the white kids gave the books to the black kids and they were all pregnant and torn up. so we need the government to overlook things. i am from michigan.

host: npr.org has an article that outlines what the u.s. education department does and doesn't do two of the most important federal funding streams to public schools are title one, which provides money to help districts that serve lower income communities. in 2023, the education department received more than $18 billion for title i. the i.d.e.a., individuals with disability education act, providing money to help districts serve students with disabilities, in fiscal year 2024, the department received more than $15 billion for this funding stream. both of these, like the department itself, created by separate acts of congress, title i signed into law in 1965 and this disabilities act signed in 1975, they cannot be unwound

except by congress. large changes to either are unlikely because it has broad, bipartisan support. kerry in georgia. caller: i am retired navy of 20 years and also taught high school rotc for 20 years. throwing money at things, it probably helps in a certain way, but i think the biggest problem is the lack of parental involvement. if we could find ways to make parents more responsible for their child's education, i think that would be a big help. host: how do you do that? how do you force parents to be more involved? caller: i taught at a private catholic school my first nine years of teaching. if a kid did not obey the rules

and got saturday school, the parents would have to pay for them to go to saturday school because the school had to pay the teacher. financially, it is an impact to the family financially, that might wake up some of these parents. but i tell you, these parents do not get involved with the kids. the only area i seen them get involved with their kids is sports. when it comes to academics, you don't see it. i have a friend teaching, and he said he had four parents come to open house this year. that is my thoughts about it. host:kerry there in georgia. let's go to arkansas, carol, good morning to you, republican. caller: good morning. how are y'all today? i hope good. ok, i have several things, but i hope i can not be so nervous, i'm sorry. host: don't worry, take your time. caller: ok.

i want to answer one thing that you took a call from a lady from nevada, and she said she wanted the bibles, trumps bibles taken out of the schools. there is no bibles with trump on them, so sorry. ok. there is three things that have bothered me. when covid hit, i had two grandchildren, one of them is my oldest and she was in high school, and then i had the youngest grandson, and they both went to school for a little while. i think the first semester, and then the second one, they said they had to do -- i guess work off a computer or something at home. and they -- the teachers were not paying attention to them and

checking their homework every week and all this stuff. well, to make sure the kids past school and all this, they did check their homework, the kids were having trouble with their homework and needed to ask questions. the teachers would ignore them. host: what does that mean for today and changes you would make today to the education system? caller: ok, for me, what i would like to see done, these teachers are -- you give them an inch, and they are going to take a mile. host: are you referring to the unions that represent them? caller: yes, because i get out here and they started yelling that they want more money, they want this, they want that, then they turn around and you give them all that stuff and then

they don't want to help our kids. they don't want to teach them. host: all right. joan in florida, independent. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a different perspective. i think there is a social contract between the federal government and individual organizations. i remember segregation, desegregation. i was young when it impacted me. it really meant a lot to me because i lived in a society i felt treated people differently, socioeconomically, those from different backgrounds. i think it is a break of a contract, and i respectfully disagree with changing the federal government. i do not know the long-term impact or the specific cuts going on, but i know that when

you leave communities to their own choices, sometimes those choices are not in the best interest of the community. on desegregation, i remember congress had determined segregation between people of color and people that were not was legalized, and it took until the 1950's to reverse that decision. i remember seeing horrible things on television, remember seeing walter cronkite, remember all of it, and i was just a baby. host: your concern is you do away with the federal education department, that states could reverse course and go back to that part of our society, part of our history, to segregation? caller: yes, ma'am, i do. i grew up in a privileged life and always felt some remorse for those who did not.

i could see differences and could see dennis great -- discrimination occurring, even if it was not in my own backyard. at a global scale, it occurs, we had racism in this country. i think it gives power to those that will perhaps misuse their power because of their perspective. and i think when you look at things from the top-down, i would prefer we maintain any ability to not go back in that direction. host: got it. from that npr article from earlier, the department of education has no power over what is taught in schools. over the years, president trump has vowed to rid america's schools of such ideas as wokeness and critical race theory, and he has said he would close the education department in order to return all education and education work and needs back to the states. in reality, it is already up to the states to determine what is taught in classrooms. nate is an educator -- nick is

an educator in michigan. what grade do you teach? caller: i am a university professor, my mother was a schoolteacher. i have been a professional for 43 years. i teach at a public -- at one of the top public universities in the country, sometimes number one. and you would not believe the poor quality of the students that we get. they do not learn anything in high school. we have to spend the first two years to teach them the things i should have learned in high school. host: what examples? caller: mathematics, physics, everything, even english. host: give us a little bit more. mathematics -- where are they falling behind? what do they need to know that they do not know? caller: not much time and i have a lot of points to make. host: [laughs] caller: we do not have enough

money in the education. we spend the highest amount in the world and get the poorest results. it is a mentality. education is hard. people should try much harder in high schools, the teachers and the students. parents should take this very seriously. the children have to speak english, they have to know mathematics. in mathematics, it matters how much money you make. the more mathematics you know, the more dollars you will make. i teach in china -- i really have a lot of experiences. host: still listening. caller: i asked the chinese students and professors, why are they so good in math? it is because they do 20 hours a week in math. in the u.s., they play football

and have cheerleaders. they should hit the books real hard. it is not a matter of funding. it makes no difference. they waste billions, and people are worse here today because education department. so i would not care less if the department is closed down or if it continues to do nothing. host: all right. jeremy in ontario, california, republican. caller: thanks for taking my call. i kind of agree with the guy that just called in. changes to improve the education system, i think i would just look at the curriculum, change the curriculum, make it more relevant, more engaging. with some of the jobs available to people as a result of being educated, attention needs to be paid by the student, and there is definitely not enough

engagement by the parents. i guess the answer to the question would be that i would change the curriculum and be more engaging. host: how old are you? caller: i am turning 40 this year. [laughs] host: democratic caller, jenny in ohio. what changes would you make? caller: first of all, i think it starts from home also, ok. when my kids were young, they had homework to do and i would always ask them, hey, you know how kids will be, they will tell you yes, and i will say go get it so i can look at it. something might be wrong with it and i would tell them, hey, you need to look at it again. ok. so i do not think it is all the

teachers' obligation to see if the child should do their homework. another thing, now they are teaching kids to write in school, not cursive. so they don't do that. so i thought, well, how you going to write a check or anything like that? and history is very important, very important. and i think that when kids act up in school the way some of them do now, i think it should be, the fighting and everything, i think they should be put out of school for a couple of days or something. you know. but they do not learn and listen at school, they use calculators. they don't learn how to add, you know, manually, so they are using calculators, even in

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