By Esther Wickham
The Center Square

The Department of Education launched a national tour this month in its continuing efforts to dismantle the agency and revert power back to the states.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced the Returning Education to the States Tour in an effort to ensure President Trump’s goal of dismantling the U.S. Department of Education .

During the education tour, Secretary McMahon will visit all 50 states and meet with schools, hear from teachers and students on education and ways to improve learning outcomes, and ensure families have the freedom to choose the best educational path for their child’s needs.

The tour officially kicked off this week with McMahon visiting Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.

“President Trump entrusted me with a vital mission to return education to the states, and part of that is learning best practices from each state,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. “As students head back to school, I will travel across our great nation to visit classrooms, listen to voices on the ground, and spotlight the incredible work happening at the local level.”

Trump wants all children to have access to quality education, McMahon stated, by ultimately giving it to the states where education is closest to the child and allowing states to enact regulations.

“Let’s have parents be at the center of that because parents are with their children. They know what is best for their child, and they should have the choice to put their children in schools where they can flourish,” McMahon said. “No child should be a prisoner of a failing school.”

On Monday, McMahon toured an East Baton Rouge school in Louisiana, along with various lawmakers and education officials.

“As I’m starting ‘Returning Education to the States’, I want to make sure that states can have best practices to look at,” she said.