Speaking ahead of Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, Republican U.S. Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson said he was “anxious” to read what was included. He spoke to about 160 people Thursday morning at a legislative breakfast in State College.
“I'm very passionate about education as a pathway to opportunity," said Thompson, who represents Pennsylvania’s 15th District. "And the most important thing is how can we produce better results.”
Thompson, who serves on the House Education and Labor Committee, said since the Department of Education was formed in 1979, the cost of education per student has grown without results.
“Well, today we're somewhere north of $16,000 per youth, and we are nowhere near the top of the list in terms of education," Thompson said. "So something is going awry here.”
According to the latest Program for International Student Assessment, the United States ranks average or above average in math, reading, science and financial literacy.
“So what is most important to me going forward as a principal is, how do we make sure in our country we are creating...that our youth are getting the education on that pathway to opportunity?” Thompson said.
President Trump said he wants states to run schools. Pennsylvania’s acting Education Secretary recently said the loss of federal funding for public schools would be “catastrophic.”
Following the legislative breakfast, Thompson briefly answered questions from WPSU about whether he plans to host a town hall.
Thompson responded that his days are “full with meetings with people all over the place,” and if people want to meet, they can come into one of his offices to make an appointment.
Within the past month, protestors gathered twice outside his Bellefonte office to ask him about recent federal cuts.
"Yeah, there's a little bit of circus activity going on right now. Folks who are, who don't like the president, you know, they don't like Elon Musk," Thompson said. "And so there's a lot of emotion around that. I certainly understand that."
Centre County Democrats invited Thompson and other area lawmakers to a town hall on March 29 at the State Theatre, but Thompson's office said he has prior commitments that day.
