Education Over

We don't need a Department of Education:

Why is there a federal Education Department? There shouldn't be. It's largely useless. More people realize that today. During Trump's last term, I asked his first Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, if she would abolish the department. "No," she replied. "There are important roles to play to ensure students are not discriminated against." How times have changed. In The Free Press, she writes, "Shut down the department ... (It) no longer needs to exist." Trump says he wants to shut it, but Congress probably won't give him the votes, and teachers unions fight to keep the federal money flowing, shouting that closing the department "will destroy families, communities and students!" Gullible media agree. A CBS news anchor claims, "The department helps 26 million kids in poverty and 7.5 million kids with disabilities." "It's not doing any of those things," says education policy researcher Corey DeAngelis in my new video. "The department was created with the express purpose to close achievement gaps and improve student outcomes. ... It hasn't done either!" In fact, outcomes got worse. Despite more than $3 trillion spent by the department, test scores are stagnant. Reading scores fell. Still, unions hold demonstrations, claiming that America needs the department. "Our students, our babies, are depending on us!" shouts teachers union president Becky Pringle. "They're not your kids, Becky!" responds DeAngelis. "They're the parents' children. Becky is just worried about her gravy train coming to an end." Pringle does make almost half a million dollars a year. The head of the other big teachers union, Randi Weingarten, makes even more. As I write this, Trump has fired 1,000 Education Department workers. "They had to be doing something," I suggest to DeAngelis. "No!" he replies. "They weren't! They were pushing paper. Taking six-figure salaries. That's why things haven't really changed much since half the department's gone." Maybe those laid-off Education Department workers will find something more useful to do.

Or join their peers on welfare...