NEW YORK – Donald Trump wants to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education if elected president.

Trump recently told Fox News Sunday he dislikes the national Common Core standards so much he’s willing the dismantle the department if elected, and shift education decisions back to the states, Real Clear Politics reports.

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In a transcript posted to RCP, Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace asks Trump about cutting spending, and in particular entire departments in the federal government.

“Would you cut services?” he questioned. “Would you cut departments?”

“I’m not cutting services,” Trump replied. “But I’m cutting spending. But I may cut the Department of Education.

“I believe Common Core is a very bad thing. I believe that we should be, you know, educating our children from Iowa, from New Hampshire, from South Carolina, from California, from New York. I think it should be local education,” he said.

The comments are music to the ears of many education reform advocates who have criticized the overbearing and bloated Department of Education as an unnecessary bureaucracy that does more harm than good. His comments are also a blessing to parents cross the country who have been fighting against Common Core since it was incentivized by the DOE under President Obama.

The Daily Caller pointed out it’s not the first time Trump promised to dismantle the department, nor is he the only presidential candidate willing to do so.

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“Trump’s suggestion to eliminate the Department of Education outright goes a bit further than his earlier rhetoric. Back in August, Trump said he wanted to gut the department and leave only ‘little pieces’ remaining,” according to the news site. “Some other Republican candidates, including Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul, have also proposed eliminating it.”

The news site opines that eliminating the DOE doesn’t exactly equate to abolishing Common Core, since the national standards were adopted by state legislatures with encouragement from Obama’s Race to The Top education initiative. But the move could have a profound impact on the federal budget, and how the government subsidizes public education in America.

“While the Department of Education is one of the smallest departments of the federal government, employing about 5,000 people, eliminating it would free up about $68 billion a year,” the Daily Caller reports. “Though much of this is spent on the dispersal of federal funds to states, which may continue even if the department itself is eliminated.”

Polls show Trumps message is resonating well with voters, as he continues to lead in early primary states this week. A CNN/ORC poll Tuesday shows Trump garnering support from about 27 percent of registered voters for the Republican primary. A NBC/Wall Street Journal poll the same day puts him at 25 percent, three points ahead of renowned neurosurgeon Ben Carson in second. A Monmouth poll, also released the same day, shows Trump at 28 percent, with a 10 percentage point lead on Carson.