Kevin D. Roberts, PhD, Lindsey Burke, PhD
Since its creation in May 1980, the Left has demanded Republicans justify opposing federal intervention in U.S. education. However, with President-elect Donald Trump‘s Department of Government Efficiency now promising to “outright delete” the Department of Education, it’s time to flip the script.
The real question isn’t, “Why should we eliminate the Department of Education?” It’s, “How can Congress possibly justify funding this ineffective and unconstitutional institution any longer?”
The answer is simple: they can’t.
By its own standards, the Department of Education has been an abject failure. The agency’s mission is “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Yet, nearly 45 years after its creation under former President Jimmy Carter, high school seniors’ math and reading outcomes remain stagnant. Worse still, the academic achievement gap between the United States’s poorest and wealthiest students, a gap of four grade levels, has not narrowed since the department’s inception.
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These dismal results come at a staggering cost. Funding this vast federal agency, with its more than 4,000 employees, has cost parents and U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. Since 1980, K-12 spending and college costs have doubled in real terms, while every additional dollar funneled through Washington has come at the expense of local schools, including public, charter, and private, that actually educate our children. As the American Enterprise Institute’s Rick Hess recently pointed out, more than 1,000 Department of Education employees are paid more than $160,000 annually, with nearly 90 making upwards of $200,000—more than four times the average starting teacher salary.
However, the department’s failures go far beyond inefficiency and waste. It is a morally bankrupt institution. By centralizing U.S. education—a responsibility historically entrusted to states and local communities—Washington has inserted itself between parents and schools, » Read More
https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/why-congress-funding-the-failing-department-education