The U.S. Department of Education was officially established on May 4, 1980, in the final days of the Carter Administration. Conservatives have talked about putting an end to this department since the time of President Ronald Reagan.
Unfortunately, this bold move has not yet been accomplished. This behemoth of a department lives on and continues to affect all areas of education.
Let’s consider some big numbers.
Back in 1980, the U.S. Federal budget was around $560-580 billion dollars. For 2024, the budget was $6.75 trillion dollars, an increase of nearly 12x in 44 years. Somewhat surprisingly, in this same period, the Department of Education’s budget has only grown about 6x, from $14 billion to about $82.4 billion. In 2017, thanks to President Obama, there was a one-time massive spike in the education budget to $115.4 billion.
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
This quote is attributed to U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois. These words also explain why it has been, up to this point, impossible for even more conservative presidential administrations to kill the Department of Education.
From its start, it has been huge. In its first year, there were at least 28 different categories for spending. As of 2021, the number jumped to about 39 budgeted categories.
Why should the Trump Administration seek to finally slay this giant?
The first reason is that the existence of the U.S. Department of Education has no constitutional basis. The U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government any authority in the area of education. The 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution declares,
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
A compelling second reason is that ending this department would save billions of dollars. I am confident that if President Trump found a way to kill it, some of its spending would be shifted to other departments, with the remainder saved.
An additional reason for ending this colossus would be that, since its establishment, we have not seen improvements in academic achievement, but rather a decline.
Education should be local. In my opinion, education should be under the control of families working with churches or even establishing locally controlled and funded schools. The beautiful blossoming of homeschooling across the U.S. in recent years proves education does not require government involvement or regulation.
A final reason why this department needs to be ended now is that, while we might see some good changes through President Trump, a future, leftist administration will certainly use the Department of Education to push all sorts of perversion in schools and universities.
One example is how the U.S. Department of Education enforces Title IX, which was passed in 1972, ostensibly to end sex-based discrimination. Both President Obama and President Biden used Title IX to push gender perversion and confusion in schools.
My prayer is that President Trump can use the abundant political capital he has right now to get Congress to legislate the end of this department and perhaps others that also have no constitutional basis. Our nation is facing a massive financial crisis with federal deficits of $1.83 trillion.
The time to act is now! May the Lord have mercy upon us.
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