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Owens pushes school-choice tax credit, criticizes Department of Education spending
Summary
On the Alec Leys Show, Congressman Burgess Owens endorsed federal tax credits for school choice, criticized long-term Department of Education spending, and said parents should have primary authority over education; the interview included claims about $3 trillion in federal education spending and teacher-union messaging on social media
Congressman Burgess Owens said on the Alec Leys Show that school choice and a federal tax credit would return educational authority to parents and introduce competition into K–12 education. “Choice is the one thing that brings merit, brings competition,” Owens said, arguing that competition would encourage better-performing schools. The discussion referenced federal education spending. Owens stated on air that the Department of Education has spent “$3,000,000,000,000” since its inception; that figure was presented during the interview as part of a broader critique of federal education policy. Alec Leys and Owens also criticized messaging from some teachers’ union leaders; Leys noted that a teachers-union leader updated her profile on X with the line “the children are always ours,” which Leys and Owens said demonstrates an ideological contrast with parental authority in education. Owens framed the COVID-19 pandemic as having revealed problems in school systems and urged states to “opt in” to school-choice policies, saying the policy has been codified at the federal level and now requires state action. He praised competition and parental choice as remedies and said decisions about schools should rest with families. Discussion vs. decision: The interview was a media conversation and did not enact or change law. Owens called for state-level opt-in to federal mechanisms but did not report any formal legislative action taken during the program.
