DOE Dismantling & Trump’s Learning Curve

Hear the laughter? When President Carter created a Dept of Education to reward the biggest teacher union it was supposed to “eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, cut red tape & promote better service for local school systems” as well as “save tax dollars.”

As the WSJ editorial board opined: “Five decades later, the Education Department runs a student-loan boondoggle with a $1.6 trillion portfolio, while harassing schools, states and districts with progressive diktats on everything from transgender bathroom use to Covid-19 mask rules. What the Education Department hasn’t done is improve the academic performance of American students. The real action is in the states, including school choice, which has a proven record.”

So, the editors argue, “don’t cry crocodile tears” for Randi Weingarten, the union boss of the American Federation of Teachers, who is whining about the Trump-Musk-DOGE effort to dismantle the department “and steal [its] money from the kids to pay for tax breaks for the rich.” Already, 1,300 DOE employees have been laid off, but then, the WSJ suggests, they never did much to help the kids learn how to read or write.  On the other hand, news reports say Trump is considering an EO to dismantle what’s left of the department … unless a federal judge issues another TRO to block such a move. Hopefully, the editors conclude, Trump will have learned by then to comply until he can get another win on appeal.

Davd Soul