Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) on Wednesday said that if President Trump’s plan to put education policy in the hands of the states happens, he would “take it” and “make good use” of the money that flows to the governor’s office.
“I’ll take it. You know, I spent time with the president a couple of weeks ago with all the other governors. If that money flows to, we governors, we’ll make good use of it,” Green told NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill.” “Just for perspective, for those watching, 11 percent right now of my entire budget on education is from the federal government.”
“I need those … I need those dollars for, like, special education for kids with autism, for so many needs, for meals in our schools. So, if the dollars flow to us, and we get rid of some bureaucracy, I think governors will welcome the resource,” he added.
Green’s comments came a day after the Department of Education unveiled that it was firing nearly half its workforce. The move by the department followed other Trump administration efforts to reshape the federal government drastically.
“The dream is we’re going to move the Department of Education, we’re going to move education into the states, so that the states, instead of bureaucrats working in Washington, so that the states can run education,” Trump said on Wednesday.
“We think when you move it back to Iowa and Indiana and all of the states that run so well … 30, maybe almost 40, those will be as good as Denmark, those will be as good as Norway,” the president added.
Trump also said Wednesday that Education Secretary Linda McMahon was responsible for mass layoffs at her department.
“When we cut— we want to cut— but we want to cut the people that aren’t working or not doing a good job. We’re keeping the best people. And Linda McMahon is a real professional, very, actually very sophisticated business person. She cut a large number, but she kept the best people, and we’ll see how it all works out,” the president said.
