Questioning the constitutional authority for the Department of Education to exist in the first place, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has recently introduced legislation to eliminate the agency.
The lawmaker was first to announce his move in a tweet that read, “I have introduced a bill to terminate the Department of Education. There is no Constitutional authority for this federal bureaucracy to exist.”
I have introduced a bill to terminate the Department of Education.
There is no Constitutional authority for this federal bureaucracy to exist. pic.twitter.com/xKWHgPfVnq
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 14, 2023
In a press release that sought to give voice to his mission, Massie explained that the Department of Education provides a way for unelected officials to make decisions regarding children’s education. According to him, states and local communities should have full charge of children’s education as they 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,” he said.
The legislation, which has quite a journey ahead to becoming law, would go a long way in the fight against progressives and the woke policies they have been not-so-slowly imbibing in classrooms. Classrooms have now become a frontline of cultural wars, from fights over evolution instruction and school prayer to battles over sex education and critical race theory.
Massie cited a speech from former President Ronald Reagan from September 1981 after he succeeded former President Jimmy Carter, who saw to the creation of a cabinet-level Department of Education. Reagan had attempted to eliminate the agency with the plan to set up a better system to look after the affairs of kids’ education.
“As a third step, we propose to dismantle two Cabinet Departments, Energy and Education,” said the former president.
“Both Secretaries are wholly in accord with this. Some of the activities in both of these departments will, of course, be continued either independently or in other areas of government. There’s only one way to shrink the size and cost of big government, and that is by eliminating agencies that are not needed and are getting in the way of a solution.”
Reagan firmly believed that eliminating the Department of Education would not only help the government reduce its costs but would also give way to a better education system as he said education is the “principal responsibility” of state governments, parents, local school systems, teachers and boards made up of citizens.
Massie’s legislation has gathered eight co-sponsors so far– all of whom believe that children deserve better than to have the decision regarding their learning to be controlled from the high throne in Washington.
The supporting lawmakers include Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN).
This attempt at abolishing the Department of Education would not be the first time the idea would be brought up in recent years, as former President Donald Trump made a similar call in the past when he criticized the radicalization of kids through the school system.
Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who served under the department under Trump, also agreed that more authority should be given to local and state education boards. “I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” she stated last year.
