The Trump administration’s decision is in response to two main issues: that academic results have not improved in the United States despite continued funding at the federal level; and also that the American Constitution originally designated the states to handle all education matters.
On both fronts, Australia is in a very similar position.
“The original intention in the Australian Constitution clearly was that education would be a state matter,” said Professor David Flint, a constitutional legal academic, in an interview with The Epoch Times.
“However, because of [the federal government] cornering income taxation power, especially in the Second World War, and with expansive judicial interpretation by activist judges, Canberra has been able to take a leading role in education policy.”
Further, while many Australians are used to the current system, the results are not necessarily reflective of better governance.
“Despite substantially increased funding for education, standards have declined, with a significant proportion of students, especially but not only boys, being effectively illiterate and innumerate,” Flint said.
“In those areas we rank well below other less well endowed countries.”
One of the key elements of a federal system is stronger competition and better accountability of state leaders.
For example, if parents feel their children can receive better education in another state, then a federal system would allow them to simply move—this in turn, places more pressure on state leaders and educators to improve results.
The same principle should normally apply across other major policy areas such as health, housing, and taxation.
However, the concentration of power has eroded these principles, and has created a distorted dynamic between state and federal governments akin to a prince and pauper type relationship.
“Not only is Canberra involved in matters which were never intended to be within its purview,” said Flint. “But the result is that matters which are essentially federal matters have been mismanaged.”
“The worst example of that is defence, which is significantly run down.
Results Dire Despite Increased Federal Funding
Last year’s NAPLAN results painted a dire picture of education across Australia.NAPLAN—also known as the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy—is an annual test of students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 intended to assist parents and educators in navigating the best educational outcomes.
Across the board, 1 in 10 students need more support than they are receiving.
In the 2024 data, Year 9 students were shown to be struggling the most, with 35.5 percent failing to reach minimum proficiency results in basic subjects.
Additionally, results showed 1 in 3 Indigenous students struggling, and 1 in every 2 remote student needing extra help.
Education Minister Jason Clare has blamed social disadvantage and vowed to increase education spending.
Shadow Minister for Education Sarah Henderson labelled the results a national “crisis,” levelling blame at a focus on activism rather than learning in the nation’s schools.
There was little discussion on returning broader education powers back to the states.
Parents have also responded accordingly with more sending their children to private or independent schools over public ones.
The US Federal System
As of 2022, the United States ranked 28th out of 37 OECD countries in math.“We’re going to be returning education, very simply, back to the states where it belongs,” President Trump said.
The federal U.S. education department was created in 1979 by then-President Jimmy Carter to provide welfare access to impoverished children.
A later attempt by President Ronald Reagan to dismantle the federal entity failed due to a lack of support from Congress.
U.S. think tank, The Cato Institute, maintains that a federal education department is not constitutional, and therefore has no place dictating state education.
