
<p>President Trump has expressed his hope that the new Secretary of Education will put himself out of a job by eliminating the Department of Education (ED) (FYI ; DOE designates the Department of Energy). ; It seems more like a plan than a wish.</p>



<p>The idea that anything in the D.C. governmental empire should be &#8212; and even could be &#8212; disbanded is a major hair-on-fire issue with the bureaucratic establishmentarians. ; Big government Democrats and left-wingers believe that the federal government should only expand and increase. ; The usurpation of power from the states and the acquisition and redistribution of the people’s wealth is the left’s fundamental source of power. ; That is why the federal government constantly grows by bureaucratic accretion.</p>



<p>One of the more controversial additions to the bureaucratic power base is the Department of Education, signed into law in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter. ; During his successful campaign against Carter in 1980, President Reagan called for the elimination of the ED. ; It was anticipated that his appointed Secretary, William Bennett, would do the job. ; For various reasons, Reagan failed to follow through on his campaign rhetoric.</p>



<p>Since that time, virtually every conservative leader and think tank has had the elimination of the <a>ED </a>on the “to do” list – but there has never been a serious effort until now.</p>



<p>The Department of Education has four self-proclaimed “key functions” – (1) distributing financial aid, (2) collecting and disseminating research, (3) focusing national attention on key issues and make recommendations, and (4) ensuring equal access to education.</p>



<p>Put more succinctly – and accurately &#8212; the ED gives away billions of taxpayer dollars, (despite having no authority over curriculum and school construction) &#8230; compiles information readily available from other government sources &#8230; promotes woke issues &#8230; ; and utterly fails to improve the educational quality of inner city minority students. ; During its 35 year history, the ED has not only failed minority students in our segregated cities, but has allowed (caused?) the entire public school system to decline in educational outcomes as evidenced by standard testing and comparison to many foreign nations.</p>



<p>There is one goal that the ED does NOT claim but actively pursues – and that is opposition to educational choice that WOULD give inner city minority students the ability to attain quality education.</p>



<p>Whenever there is an effort to eliminate a wasteful and needless government program or agency, the left goes into hysterical caterwauling and fearmongering – raising any number of reasons why the agency or department is essential – and even existential – to the to the welfare of the people &#8230; the preserving of the Republic &#8230; and the future of all mankind.</p>



<p>In terms of the ED, they claim that it is essential to the operation of the school lunch ; ; program. ; An outright lie. ; That program was – and is- managed by the Department of Agriculture. ; It existed long before the ED was created.</p>



<p>They say that the ED is essential to protect the civil rights of minority Americans. Another lie. The progress made in civil rights in the mid-1900s – especially in terms of school integration – was made without a Department of Education. All the progress in ending racist school segregation in the past &#8212; and protecting the civil rights of students today – is the responsibility of the Justice Department.</p>



<p>Schools on American military bases are operated by the Department of Defense. ; American schools in foreign countries are under the jurisdiction of the State Department. ; Schools on Native American lands are overseen by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Education. ; The well-known Head Start Program was – and is &#8212; operated by the current Department of Health and Human Services.</p>



<p>Those opposed to the elimination of the ED also suggest that it will undermine – and even end – funds to address special ed students. These needs are largely met within local school budgets. ; The federal government has provided supplementary funding to non-public school systems to handle special ed students. ; Catholic school systems get millions of dollars to take on special ed students from the public school systems. ; (So much for separation of church and state.) ; Again, these needs were being met before the existence of the ED. ; Much of the federal assistance to education in the past was handled directly by legislative appropriations administered through the former Department of Health, EDUCATION and Welfare –and even before that existed.</p>



<p>American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has claimed that the ED is essential to addressing the special needs of minority students. It does no such thing. ; One only need look at the low quality of education in the Democrat-run cities where Black and Latino studies are segregated and provided with a separate and unequal educational experience. ; Contrary to Weingarten’s claim, the ED has done nothing to improve the quality of inner-city education. ; He lies.</p>



<p>The Department of Education has more than 4,000 employees and a $103 billion budget. ; At the time of its creation, the ED had a budget of $14 billion. ; To handle Covid related issues, President Bidden increased the funding of ED to $274 billion in 2023. And we know how badly that went.</p>



<p>What the ED HAS done is to serve as a protector and promoter of school unionism &#8230; the promoter of Woke programs and policies &#8230; and a wasteful expender of taxpayer money.</p>



<p>Most importantly, the ED usurps the rights and the powers of local communities to oversee and manage their own school systems &#8212; the education of their own children. ; The ED is nothing less than a cancer on the body politic.</p>



<p>Abolishing the Department of Education would be a good start in reducing the size, cost and regulatory overreach of the federal government. ; We did without it for 200 years – and we can do very nicely without it again. ; It will only be missed by those in the D.C. establishment who draw power and wealth from its existence.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Department of Education needs to go
