Does less than 25% of Education Department spending go to students? No - Poynter

In a March 16 podcastinterview, Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyo., said the Trump administration is right to target the Education Department for cuts. “The federal Department of Education spends — has a budget of about $280 billion a year. Less than 25% goes to educating our students,” she said. “So where does the other $220 billion go? It goes to a bureaucracy, it goes to a consultant, and that consultant then donates money back to the Democrats, and then it goes to a different consultant, and then it goes to” a nongovernmental organization. The department handles a lot of money. But budget figures show a large majority of the Education Department’s 2024 spending was directed to students. Hageman’s office did not respond to an inquiry for this fact-check. Congressestablishedthe Education Department in 1979. Until recent cuts by the Trump administration, it employed4,133 people; cuts initiated by Trump this month aim to reduce the workforce to 2,183. The department does not governcurriculum...