Charter school founder backs Trump administration push to decentralize K-12 education

SALT LAKE CITY — A charter school founder and executive is throwing her support behind the Trump administration’s effort to strip federal bureaucracy from classrooms and return education authority to the states.

"It is very helpful to return the funding to the states that we already get, but with less regulation on those funds so that I can serve our students' needs — precisely what they need— instead of maybe what somebody in Washington thought they needed," Carolyn Sharette, founder and executive director of American Preparatory Academy (APA), told Fox News Digital.

Sharette founded APA in Utah in 2003. The public charter school network now serves more than 5,000 students across eight Utah campuses.

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Carolyn Sharette, CEO and founder of American Preparatory Academy, is supporting the Trump administration’s effort to return education to the states. (Fox News Digital / Joshua Nelson)

"We know exactly what our students need here to progress, and so returning the education to the states means we get to use the money in more flexible ways to help our students," Sharette said.

On Oct.20, APA’s West Valley City campus served as the 47th stop on Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s 50-state "Returning Education to the States Tour," which aims to highlight the Trump administration's K-12 reform efforts.

Delivering a keynote speech titled "The Next 250: K-12 Education," McMahon emphasized shifting authority back to local leaders, investing in proven academic interventions, and expanding school choice for families.

According to U.S. Department of Education officials, more than $3 trillion in federal taxpayer money has been funneled into K-12 education in recent decades. Despite the massive expenditure, national assessment data shows only about three in 10 students perform at or above proficient levels in math and reading.

The Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Fox News Digital that the U.S. is due for a "reset" of public education after spending $3 trillion while literacy scores have consistently declined. (U.S. Department of Education)

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Upon taking office, McMahon pledged to work toward dismantling the federal education agency, including installing leaders tasked with phasing out their own divisions. The effort aligns with President Donald Trump’s broader educational agenda, which he highlighted during a White House Rose Garden event championing school choice.

"School choice is really profound, actually," Sharette told Fox News Digital. "The role we play because we provide a place for parents to choose a different school if they'd like, and it's wonderful that they have that option."

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"We provide a school that is a classical school," Sharette added. "We teach through literature, we teach the science of reading. We've always had very high reading scores at our school. So parents who are looking for a rigorous and classical education can choose our school and have that freedom."

Secretary Linda McMahon launched a speaking series addressing K-12 students at American Preparatory Academy in Salt Lake City, Utah. (U.S. Department of Education)

Trump has also pledged to eliminate "far-left extremism" from classrooms, arguing that decades of federal administrative oversight have failed to yield acceptable academic results.

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To streamline operations, the Department of Education recently launched a new waiver process allowing state leaders to request greater flexibility when spending federal funds, while significantly cutting administrative red tape. Iowa became the first state in the nation to participate in the flexibility initiative.

Joshua Q. Nelson is a reporter for Fox News Digital.

Joshua focuses on cultural trends, education, and public policy. He extensively covered reparations developments across the U.S., the Department of Education, and immigration issues.

Joining Fox News Digital in 2019, he previously graduated from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and received the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Public Policy Certificate.

Story tips can be sent to joshua.nelson@fox.com and Joshua can be followed on Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.