Multiple Republican presidential candidates made it clear at this week’s debate that the Department of Education is in danger if they are elected.
“Let’s shut down the head of the snake, the Department of Education,” Vivek Ramaswamy said. “Take that $80 billion, put it in the hands of parents across this country.”
Conservatives see the department, which has more than 4,400 employees and in its current form dates back to 1979 after first being established in 1867, as a prime example of Washington’s meddling in Americans’ lives. The time has come to “shut down the Federal Department of Education,” former Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday.
But what would it mean to actually shutter the massive agency?
How could the department be eliminated?
Killing the Department of Education (DOE) would be easier said than done.
Conservatives have said since the creation of the department they want to get rid of it. From President Ronald Reagan and his Education secretary to President Trump and his own, Republicans have decried the department’s existence but failed to abolish it.
That is because the decision to do so is not only up to the president and would have to go through Congress.
“There would have to be some legislation to specifically outline this, but I do think it would need to have the support of the executive branch and, obviously, this is a Cabinet-level agency, so I think having the president — would have to take a leadership role and help to make sure that the proposal is carefully crafted,” said Jonathan Butcher, the Will Skillman senior research fellow in education policy at The Heritage Foundation, which supports nixing the DOE.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) proposed such legislation in 2021 and reintroduced it earlier this year.
“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” Massie said two years ago. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school or private school.”
DOE did not respond to The Hill’s request for comment.
DOE’s duties would be absorbed by other federal agencies
DOE has an enormous number of responsibilities, including handling student loans, investigating complaints against schools and tracking education progress across the country.
None of the 2024 candidates during Wednesday’s debate detailed how they would handle eliminating it, but conservatives have longed to see many of its tasks either completely eliminated or absorbed into other departments.
“For example, the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Education. I think that any duplicate responsibilities that it shares with the Department of Justice should be eliminated, and then the rest of that office should go to the Department of Justice,” Butcher said.
At this point I really have to wonder if Republicans even want a federal level. I mean to me it looks like they are trying to disassemble the USA.
The GOP is a terrorist organization.
Got to make these people as dumb as possible so they’ll believe anything
It will look like that scientific knowledge survey they did in subsaharan africa. People won’t know that the earth orbits around the sun.
This isn’t hyperbole, they won’t teach science if they can avoid it.
I got to experience evangelical science indoctrination as a child, and they literally do not want science taught. It contradicts the pop up books.
They want private schools, which basically means not everyone will actually go to school if this happens.
They want school choice, where parents take their school funding vouchers to charter schools, so they can segregate their children from the “less-fortunate” (read people of color) and teach them all about the whitewashed history of the world and nothing about climate, healthcare, or gender and sexuality.
No joke, read this:
https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
There’s an entire section on the department of education and what they plan to do.
Read at least the Forward. It’s disgusting and important that voters know exactly what the Republicans plan to do if they win the next election.
charter schools do provide a reliable and well rounded educational experience. public schools are rather dependent on the public
I assume they want the states to have full autonomy over their education for starters. RIP kids in the south, they’ll never even be taught how badly they’ve been screwed.
In a report from The Heritage Foundation back in 2020, the group estimated billions would be saved …
in a better world, it wouldn’t matter what the heritage foundation thinks. they’re a conservative propaganda machine that pushes climate change denial, transphobia, and voter fraud claims. it’s dishonest reporting to cite them without mentioning their track record and credibility.
Totally agree. It’s a Koch-funded propaganda machine.
In a better world the Heritage Foundation would not exist at all.
You can’t indoctrinate kids nearly as easily in public schools, and there’s no way to turn a profit on them. By contrast, a solid public education makes kids more likely to grow up and vote Democrat. The GOP especially today knows that it can’t win legitimately; rage baiting and cheating are their only remaining strategies.
This is definitely one of those places where it’s easy to get frustrated with rural conservative voters, voting against their own best interests.
Kids in a state like mine already have a huge advantage because we value education and we fund it better. We also can afford to do so.
Conservative states already have less opportunity for their kids, by interfering and limiting their education. Those kids are already disadvantaged because many areas can’t afford adequate funding. I understand authoritarian politicians wanting power and control, but how can parent vote for limiting their kids’ future like that. Department of Education helps fund those schools, while also requiring equal opportunity and requires it be an actual education. Again, I understand politicians spreading divisiveness and outrage to control the populace, but how do parents firstly fall for the BS, and secondly vote against accepting “free” funding to improve their kids’ education?
DoE is one of those “transfer of wealth” programs where blue states pay more, and red states take more. If I don’t mind paying extra to help those disadvantaged, why do they not want to accept more money to invest in their kids’ future. Someone needs to talk to them about “family values”
If I don’t mind paying extra to help those disadvantaged, why do they not want to accept more money to invest in their kids’ future. Someone needs to talk to them about “family values”
Because they want to teach hate to keep the poor poor and the rich rich. A DoE will never allow that, the existence of a DoE is “woke”.
Just another thing the Republicans want to eliminate without any forethought or planning for what comes after. And just like their ‘repeal’ of ACA, they will cry for years that this needs to happen, and they’ve got a plan to handle it. Only to have it all blown up in their faces once they actually have the opportunity to make it happen.
The Republican party is a dog chasing a car. If it ever catches the car, they’ll fuckin get run over.
Fucking beautiful analogy 😙👌
Take $80 billion, divide by the number of households in US with children ~ 30 million. That’s about $2700. Anyone who’s a parent knows that doesn’t go far at all in terms of education expenses. Good luck privatizing education and funding it out pocket for $3k/yr. Complete idiots.
Generous of you to assume they’d redirect that money to anyone else but themselves and their cronies.
Aren’t schools funded by county property tax and not the DOE?
yeah I thought the dept of edumcation was administrative overhead
Depends on the state, but finding isn’t really the issue here. It’s a move to a voucher system.
The idea that they are pushing is to privatize the entire education system. Privatization has been a wet dream for Republicans for many years now, and not just in education. It would further corporatize the country and allow for more money that was once ‘the people’s’ to be siphoned into private pockets.
So the state gives money to families with children. Those families send their kids to a private school and give that money (plus probably a lot more) to that private school. Public money flowing into private hands. Add to that deregulation of the industry - no standard tests or textbooks. Education will be chaos.
Conservatives have established a series of charter schools designed to eliminate liberal thinking and to embrace Conservative Religious values (hate, discrimination, and conformity).
I think you all need to go ahead and have that second Civil War, clear out the dead wood.
They are basically begging for it
They wanna make the Usa into North Korea
Republican don’t want to re-organize how the federal government handles the responsibilities of the DOE—they want those responsibilities eliminated, and the more it harms schools, the better.
Given that we understand that conservative politicians know it takes a lack of education to vote conservative- do we assume this is actually why they’re gutting the DOE? Even though we know they don’t give a shit about the future for anyone but themselves?
I honestly can’t see this paying off for another 10-15 years or so- and since they only care about themselves, they can’t be playing the long game here.
But then that leaves no good reason to create a country of dumbasses….
Lowering the quality of education is something that the right always does, everywhere in the world, when they come into power. It’s a long term investment for them to stay or get back into power.
Education level is strongly correlated with political leaning so it’s a smart move from them to attain their goals (which isn’t making the country better).
They’ve been playing the long game for decades. Why would they stop right when it’s starting to seriously pay off?
Again, because they don’t care about what’s good for anyone but themselves. Wrecking the DOE requires them to give a shit about who follows them in office once they retire.
They don’t care about that shit.
I think you misunderstand. They’re playing the long game for themselves. I would never accuse them of giving a shit about anyone else.
They won’t be in office by the time it’ll pay out though… Will they?
Oh shush.
Oh shush.
