On October 17, 1979, President Carter signed a bill that had already been approved by the U.S. Senate, creating the Federal Department of Education (DE). The National Education Association (NEA) had helped President Carter get elected, and in turn, President Carter awarded the NEA a seat on the new federal DE he had created.

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For the next forty-six years, education spun out of control as school policy was dictated at the federal level by the NEA, which stressed learning based on social issues. Policies were anti-God, anti-police, anti-family, and anti-Christian. Even objective subjects like math often came with word problems that interjected social justice issues, giving students a steady diet of socialism.

Over the years, public schools morphed into institutions that managed the dumbing down of students. It was Satan’s heyday as he held unfettered authority to mold the hearts and minds of our students—and he could do it with American taxpayer money. In 2024, the federal government spent $79.1 billion in discretionary funding for public education through the Department of Education, even as public school children were failing.

One thing that held firm during the years when hope for education’s reformation looked impossible was the prayers of intercessors. As early as October 1, 1979, Intercessors for America (IFA) made a decision to engage intercessors in the battle they knew was coming. On October 1, 1979, IFA sent a letter urging intercessors to pray and to write their Senators, asking them not to support the bill forming a federal DE, as it would be little more than creating a seat at the federal level for the National Education Association (NEA). The Senate went ahead and voted in favor of establishing the DE. Even when it looked like public schools would never have the opportunity to experience a genuine reformation, Intercessors for America remained committed, sending prayer requests to intercessors and enabling them to maintain a constant prayer focus for reformation in America’s schools.

A breakthrough happened on March 20, 2025, when President Trump announced he had signed an executive order that would begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education (DE) “once and for all. We’re going to eliminate it, and everybody knows it’s right,” the president said of the department. He added, “We’re not doing well with the world of education in this country, and we haven’t for a long time.”

The President was correct, as the latest 2024 data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), known as the Nation’s Report Card, clearly revealed. Public school students’ test scores were once again trending downward, showing that only 30–35% of 12th graders could read at grade level or above. NAEP also reported that 65–70% of high school graduates were below grade-level mastery. Colleges were already sounding alarms that, according to the college-readiness benchmark set by the ACT, 73% of high school graduates would not be prepared for college. The Nation’s Report Card also revealed that 70% of eighth graders “were not proficient in either reading or math,” and “40% of fourth graders lack even basic reading skills.”

While understanding President Trump’s disappointment in discovering the low test scores in America’s public schools, his action to dismantle the DE gives intercessors great hope that the evil control over the hearts and minds of our children has suffered a great blow, opening the door for intercessors to press into spiritual warfare to complete the job.

We can expect no less from our education system than the Pilgrims expected when they left Holland to come to this land so they could teach their children to read the Bible. When they landed at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620, they brought with them a deep conviction that the education of their children was a sacred duty. They feared their children would grow up unable to read the Scriptures for themselves, leaving them spiritually vulnerable and unable to discern truth from error. For the Pilgrims, teaching a child to read was not merely academic—it was a spiritual safeguard, a way to anchor the next generation in God’s Word so they could live faithfully, resist deception, and preserve their identity as a covenant people.

The time is right for intercessors to pray for the strongholds on education in our nation to be dismantled. As intercessors, we will continue to pray for God to transform education, rebuilding the godly foundations the Pilgrims brought to our shores when they landed at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620. They came with a deep conviction that the education of their children was a sacred duty. They feared their children would grow up unable to read the Scriptures for themselves, leaving them spiritually vulnerable and unable to discern truth from error. For the Pilgrims, teaching a child to read was not merely academic. It was a spiritual safeguard, a way to anchor the next generation in God’s Word so they could live faithfully, resist deception, and preserve their identity as a covenant people.

Thank God for the example the Pilgrims gave us. Their concerns compel us as intercessors to build on the same foundational principles the Puritans desired in the education of their children.

We Pray:

• for a clear, spiritual, and practical education for our children
• that they learn to read the Scriptures
• that they know the Bible
• that they live according to God’s Word
• that they avoid deception and moral error
• that they are shaped by a culture grounded in their faith
• that they are raised in a God-centered community
• that they learn responsibility and obedience