The ineffective, inefficient Department of Education is in the crosshairs of the GOP | Opinion
Conservatives have been trying to close the Department of Education since the Cabinet-level agency was created by an act of Congress signed by Jimmy Carter in 1979. Creating the department was among Carter’s campaign promises in 1976; closing it was among Ronald Reagan’s in 1980.
Today the department trundles along with the same modest 4,000 employees it had back when it was created, but its outsize influence on lightning rod issues such as racially disparate school discipline and transgender issues have made it a target once again. This year, Donald Trump has reiterated Reagan’s promise saying elimination of the agency is a priority early in his administration.
Democrats see the possibility as alarming; Kamala Harris called it part of a plan “to return America to a dark past.” The National Education Association, which was instrumental in creating the department, calls the effort “disastrous for the nation.”
Carter certainly saw the creation of the department as a bright new day for America. “I came to the office of the presidency determined that the American people should receive a better return on their investment in education,” Carter said optimistically as he signed the law creating the agency. “The Department of Education bill will allow the federal government to meet its responsibilities in education more effectively, more efficiently, and more responsively.”
A close look at the Department of Education reveals it has utterly failed at all of the goals Carter outlined for it. Today, America’s public schools are every bit as ineffective, inefficient and impenetrable as they were in 1979, but at vastly greater expense for federal, state and local taxpayers.
Consider SAT scores taken by college-bound juniors and seniors in high school. In 1980, the average combined score was 994. By 2016, the year before the tests and scoring were significantly changed, it was 1002, an increase of about 1%. From 2017 to 2023 scores have gone from 1060 to 1028, down a little less than 3%.
Or consider the government’s own test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress given to 9- 13- and 17-year-olds. Reading scores in 2024 are the same as they were in 1980. Math scores have risen from 219 in the late 1970s to 234 today, a rise of about 1% a decade.
Or consider international comparisons of 15-year-olds across the world in 2022. The U.S. was below average among advanced economies. Behind all our major competitors — Japan, China, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany — but we’re trouncing Ukraine and Turkey.
We’re not educating our kids “more” let alone “effectively.”
There’s no game-playing here either. Every single number I have cited is from the Biden administration’s own Department of Education — you know, the people who think we should keep the Department of Education because they work there.
Well, surely we’ve gotten more efficient, right? Well, no. In inflation-adjusted dollars we’ve gotten these mediocre results by doubling the amount of money we spend per student from about $7500 in 1980 to more than $15,000 in 2024. In Washington, the Department of Education has vastly expanded its budget from $53 billion in 1980 to $238 billion in 2024. That’s a 449% increase.
It is true that the number of students have gone up from 41 million in 1980 to 52 million in 2024, about 26% growth, and we’ve hired teachers at an even faster rate — they’ve grown 48%. But here comes the inefficiency as the 4,000 workers at the Department of Education have cranked out more rules for local schools, and both political parties in Washington have passed laws to deepen federal involvement in education. The number of administrators working in the schools went up 84% and the number of administrators working in state and district central offices went up 240%. There is now one administrator for every 10 teachers.
By any measure, we’re not educating our children “more efficiently.”
Well what about more responsively? Public schools are failing disabled kids. Urban schools are a disaster in much of the country. Immigrants speaking English as a second language do poorly in public schools. Public schools have utterly failed at making a path to the trades easier. And for the gifted? Forget about it. Finally, boys are falling further and further behind girls.
It is hard to think of anyone public schools are responsive to other than members of the suburban middle class and up who have standard-issue kids.
If the Department of Education hasn’t been successful in achieving any of the goals at its founding, what’s the argument for keeping it?
“If you support eliminating the Department of Education, you do not support our students,” Biden’s Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, said Tuesday.
That’s it, hide behind the kids and run from reality. The Department of Education has been running from reality for a long time. Donald Trump is about to catch up.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 6:06 AM with the headline "The ineffective, inefficient Department of Education is in the crosshairs of the GOP | Opinion."
