EXCLUSIVE – As President-elect Donald Trump privately storyboards his Cabinet picks, a top state official rumored to be on the shortlist for education secretary is releasing his plan to shift the department’s duties to states and parents, Fox has learned. News Digital learned.

In a memo to parents and school administrators in Oklahoma, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters will say the federal agency has “hijacked our education system using taxpayer dollars to impose harmful policies and control what is taught in our schools .”

Some of the issues Walters said he raises, both in the memo and in what he calls a Trump Education Advisory Team, which will be announced Monday.

The Department of Education is a relatively new, standalone Cabinet agency created under former President Jimmy Carter, which his successor, Ronald Reagan, called on to close during his 1982 State of the Union address.

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Basic principles include ending “social indoctrination” in the classroom and promoting patriotism through the curriculum.

In an interview on Friday, Walters said the team will organize priorities for schools to align with the Trump administration’s education policies, based on what the president-elect has indicated he will do in that regard.

Facing the prospect of a shuttered Department of Education, Walters said he will plan how to fill the gaps left by federal programs and develop legislative recommendations.

At an October rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Trump said he was “closing down the Department of Education and moving education back to the United States.”

“And we’re going to do it quickly. We’re going to get someone great (as secretary).” He mentioned former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. who had accompanied him, as well as Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

According to Education Week, Walters also remains “on Republicans’ radar” in that regard.

He said Friday that Democrats have failed to challenge Trump on education policy, likely because his positions already resonated with the American public, pointing to recent scholastic controversies in Virginia and elsewhere.

“We will be the tip of the spear in setting President Trump’s agenda. This is to ensure that we are fully aligned with the most aggressive, comprehensive and conservative education agenda the country has ever seen,” he said.

Walters said he is confident that Trump will follow through and close the agency, and that this will result in greater proficiency among students who are less burdened by red tape, government layoffs and social policy edicts.

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Desks in a classroom. (iStock)

“I mean, President Biden came out in the middle of the summer and told us we had to put boys in girls’ bathrooms,” he said.

Whether or not Trump ultimately chooses him, Walters said he will remain focused on bringing Oklahoma in line with Trumpian policies and creating a roadmap for other states.

Improving education, he added, goes far beyond the curriculum and will have lasting impacts on the economy, employment and more.

“Parents wanted to hear that our schools are not here to tell our children that this is an evil, racist country and to perpetuate this indoctrination,” he said. “We want to support families and school choice.”

The transition plan he has drawn up also shows how the education system can continue to function without the influence of teacher unions that comes with the current top-down system.

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The Department of Education building in Washington, DC (Erin Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He said American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten put his photo on a screen after Trump’s at a recent union convention, and that his response Tuesday was the “definitive victory” of pro-school choice candidates.

“It’s just so exciting to see this agenda become a reality,” he said.

In the current Congress, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., has also authored a bill to abolish the Department of Education. It was referenced and remains in committee.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for information on the Cabinet shortlist, and to the Department of Education for comment on Walters’ plans. A representative of the latter referred Fox News Digital to the Trump campaign.