SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The controversial appointment of Linda McMahon to lead the country's education department has caused great concern for Illinois teachers and school administrators. However, the Trump administration's plan to dismantle the agency led to intense arguments in the Illinois House Thursday.
Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) argued with House Democrats about the current state of education on March 13, 2025.
Rep. Sue Scherer (D-Decatur) rarely speaks on the House floor, but the former teacher with 30 years of experience said she had to stand up for students and teachers in central Illinois.
"Why is Donald Trump pushing ahead with a policy that will hurt the same people who trusted him," Scherer asked. "I'll tell you why — simply because his billionaire donors want another tax cut and they'll mortgage our children's future to pay for it."
Multiple eastern Illinois Republicans, known as the Freedom Caucus, have been the only state representatives celebrating the president's plans for education. Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) said it is past time to do something on the state and federal level to address poor student performance.
"Equity, equity, equity. We hear about it all the time. It's all talk and it's no action," Wilhour said. "We've been operating under this Marxist principle for a long time. The people that we're purportedly trying to help with these processes, the results keep getting worse."
The Republican caused controversy during a House appropriations hearing last month by stating Illinois should stop focusing on equity in education funding. Wilhour said lawmakers should worry more about improving education for all students instead of addressing DEI funding.
Although, Rep. Will Davis (D-East Hazel Crest) said equity is excellence.
"I mean, when we talk about cutting a department like the Department of Education, a lot of the folks that he's laying off are the folks that process the claims from the states, that process our requests for funding to stand up title programs, to stand up special education programs," Davis said.
Yet, Wilhour said he supports Trump's plan to eliminate the Department of Education. He even suggested that Illinois should get rid of the State Board of Education.
"I think that if we focused a lot more on the classrooms, and a lot less on the educrats and the Illinois education industrial complex, and start caring more about the kids and their outcomes, that would be a good thing," Wilhour said.
David said schools in every corner of the state will suffer without federal funding. He stressed that students in poor communities benefit the most from title programs.
"If you don't want them to benefit from it, tell your school districts to return the money," Davis said. "Tell your school districts to give back the money that they're receiving. If they don't like the evidence based funding model, they can return the dollars."
Trump told reporters this week that many of the terminated staff from the US Department of Education "were not working or doing a poor job." The president said he still plans to eliminate the department in the coming months.
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