Thank you. I’m honored to be here. And I’d like to thank Janine and Jeff Yass for their extraordinary leadership of this organization.
My primary duty as Treasury Secretary is to promote economic growth and opportunity. And tonight, I will discuss the critical role education reform plays in that effort.
Education is economic infrastructure—which is why Treasury is deeply invested in questions of education policy. The performance of our K-12 students is a leading indicator for the future performance of our economy. And while America’s schools perform well globally, several warning lights are flashing red:
According to recent data from the Nation’s Report Card, math scores for 13-year-olds just posted the largest drop in the test’s 50-year history. Reading scores for 9-year-olds saw their sharpest decline in decades. Only one in five high school juniors today meets college-readiness benchmarks. And chronic absenteeism has nearly doubled across the country.
But it’s not America’s students who are failing; it’s the system that serves them.
Applying a Market Lens to Education Reform
The slow-motion decline of our education system has been years in the making, and the economic costs will only compound if policymakers continue to look the other way. Refusal to address long-term problems got us to where we are today. Only decisive action can get us out.
COVID laid bare the perverse incentives and inefficiencies of the US public school system. Student wellbeing and performance were sacrificed to the demands of teachers’ unions, which kept America’s kids locked out of the classroom in some states for more than a year. We are still grappling with the economic fallout of this betrayal. If pandemic learning losses are not reversed, the US economy could lose up to $31 trillion over the course of the 21st century as a result of a less-skilled workforce.
The dysfunctional behavior of our schools during the COVID experience makes sense when viewed through a market lens: the US public education system is a government-protected monopoly subsidized by hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and propped up by one of the most powerful and politically motivated unions in the country. It is a system both resistant to disruption and desperately in need of it.
The central problem facing our education system is a lack of competition. Because public schools are largely insulated from market pressure, they have little incentive to innovate or raise their performance. And so, they consistently fail our children, who are the future workforce of America.
The good news is, there’s a simple solution to this problem: introduce more competition into the education marketplace.
If the US economy prioritizes free market principles, then so should the education system that feeds it. This is the guiding ethos behind the Trump Administration’s approach to empowering educators and students to succeed. At the Treasury Department, we are leveraging groundbreaking new policies to strengthen innovation in education along two fronts: school choice and Trump Accounts.
Promoting School Choice through Federal Tax Credits
By creating the first-ever federal tax credit for K-12 scholarships, this administration is encouraging greater competition in the education marketplace and expanding opportunity to thousands of families across the country.
When President Trump was elected in a landslide victory last November, he promised to restore free markets to education in the form of school choice. And he fought tooth and nail to follow through on that promise in the One Big Beautiful Bill. Thanks to the President’s signature legislation, taxpayers can now claim a $1,700 federal tax credit for contributions to qualifying Scholarship Granting Organizations. This is the first federal tax credit that directly supports private donations for K-12 education.
Allow me to explain the upside of this policy for America’s families: Through this forward-thinking reform to the tax code, the Trump administration is providing Americans with strong financial incentives to donate generously to organizations that award primary and secondary education scholarships. More donations means more scholarships for families in need. And more scholarships means more school choice. Ultimately, this federal tax credit will empower students to tailor their education according to their needs—whether that means attending another public school or a charter or private school. Treasury is hard at work finetuning guidance on this new law to ensure Americans can access this important tax credit as soon as possible.
Like many of you, I am a firm believer that a child’s zip code should not determine his destiny. Thanks to this policy, a talented student growing up in a struggling neighborhood will no longer be trapped in a school that cannot meet his potential.
Parents who have long felt powerless will finally have the leverage to choose a school that aligns with their values and their child’s needs.
And educators who dare to innovate will have the freedom to reach more students, rather than run into the barriers of a protected monopoly.
Under President Trump’s leadership, we are breaking up that monopoly. We are dismantling the education cartel that kept our schools locked down during COVID. And we are returning power to the parents and educators who put children first.
Expanding Financial Literacy through Trump Accounts
In addition to expanding school choice, this administration is advancing innovation in an area of education I am personally passionate about—financial literacy.
Consider an alarming statistic that won’t show up on our Nation’s Report Card: Approximately two-thirds of Gen Z Americans fail to answer more than half of the basic financial literacy questions on the Nation’s Personal Finance Index. It’s yet another indictment of the modern school system that we are graduating students without the basic financial skills they need to navigate today’s economy.
Promoting financial literacy is among my top priorities as the 79th Secretary of the United States Treasury Department. That’s just one reason why we created Trump Accounts.
By giving every US newborn a material stake in the American Dream through public equity-based Trump Accounts, we are providing future students with a hands-on education in financial literacy, the power of compound growth, and the benefits of free markets.
Here's how Trump Accounts work: Eligible children born during this Administration will receive a $1,000 contribution from the Treasury Department that will be immediately invested in an index fund. Starting on July 4—our nation’s 250th anniversary—parents, family members, employers, and friends can then contribute up to $5,000 to each Trump account each year.
But suppose they never contribute anything at all. The compound growth from the initial seed funding alone could still make young Americans millionaires. A single $1,000 deposit into a Trump Account at birth can grow to nearly $500,000 by age 60 at median returns, and over $1 million in strong markets. An entire generation of Americans is about to learn, in the most rewarding way possible, how even small early contributions can become life-changing assets. And it’s all thanks to President Trump.
Trump Accounts will embed financial literacy in America’s youth in a way no book, test, or school curriculum could. They will instill the lessons of long-term savings and delayed gratification by keeping the investments locked until recipients turn 18, at which point, the account will work just like a traditional IRA. After students turn 18, they can use the account to keep saving for retirement. Or if they so choose, they can use it to finance their own education at college or a vocational school.
Instilling Capitalist Values through Trump Accounts
Beyond promoting financial literacy and expanding opportunities in higher education, Trump accounts will teach America’s youth the virtues of capitalism—a lesson that is urgently needed in contemporary politics.
More than half of young Americans today have a favorable view of socialism. While I am an avowed capitalist, I understand why many Gen Z and Millennial citizens hold this view. They lack the same opportunities to build capital that my generation did. Many of them are saddled with negative capital in the form of crushing student debt. And many find themselves locked out of a historically expensive housing market, with the average age of the first-time homebuyer today reaching a record high of 40 years old. With little to no stake in the capitalist system, it shouldn’t surprise us that some have lost faith in it and are searching for alternatives.
Thankfully, Trump Accounts offer a solution to the problem of rising socialism and the economic misery it would bring about. President Trump understands that for all Americans to believe in capitalism, they need the opportunity to participate in it. And Trump Accounts give them that chance.
Today, 38% of Americans do not own stocks. But with Trump accounts, over time, we can get that number down to zero. President Trump wants every American on every rung of the economic ladder to have a share in the nation’s wealth. This is essential to securing what I call Parallel Prosperity—an era of economic expansion where Wall Street and Main Street grow together.
If you’re at this conference, it’s because you care about advancing bold and innovative policies that disrupt the status quo. And Trump Accounts are among the most bold and innovative policies in the history of our country. These unique investment vehicles will reverse historic declines in financial literacy while ensuring that every American becomes an asset owner.
Education as an Engine of Economic Dynamism
Through our innovation-centered approach to finance and education policy, this Administration is restoring competition in education, empowering parents and their children, expanding financial literacy, and giving every young American a lasting stake in our nation’s prosperity. And we are just getting started.
Our goal is to transform the US education system into an engine of economic dynamism. But to achieve that goal, we need the perspective, ideas and support of the innovators in this room. The future belongs to the heterodox thinkers who challenge old models and commit to building something new. It belongs to people like you. We are grateful to be your partners in this effort as we work together to Make America Great Again. Thank you.
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