The Department of Education has not helped public education

June 10, 2025

When the Framers of the U.S. Constitution were creating the document, they were determined to develop a system where the federal government was going to have limited size and authority. Under the federalism concept, some things would be left to the states and localities, and education was one of those things.

They reasoned that some things were better left in the hands of the people who were affected by them, and who could adequately control them, and the federal government was not going to control everything. And, at that time, education was not even considered a function local government.

For roughly 200 years, prior to the establishment of the Department of Education (DOE) in 1979, education at first was handled by the community and religions. Eventually, local and state governments took over. 

And, at the time the DOE was created, our education system was regarded as one of the best, if not the best, in the world.

On March 20, two months after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President, Whitehouse.gov posted the following: “Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to officially begin the process of closing the Department of Education. After more than four decades and over $3 trillion spent with virtually nothing to show for it, President Trump’s bold plan will return education back where it belongs — with the states.”

Today, roughly five decades since the DOE was created, American public education has fallen dramatically lower on the success scale.

Earlier this month, Marissa Streit, the CEO of Prager University, provided information demonstrating how much poorer a job public education has been doing since the good old days.

“Right now, the United States is ranked 28th in the world in math and 36th in literacy. 

“One in four eighth graders lack a basic proficiency in math. One in three are not reading at grade level. Only 13% are proficient in U.S. history.

“In certain cities, the numbers are truly appalling. For example, in Chicago, 22 schools didn’t have a single student who was proficient in reading comprehension, and 33 schools didn’t have a single student who was proficient in math.” 

And, she says, it’s not a problem based on insufficient financing. 

“According to the most recent numbers, the United States spends $17,000 per student. In Chicago, it’s $29,000.”

So, what happened?

In the early days of the country, people were very conscientious about child rearing. They wanted the children to be able to function in society, to take care of themselves when the time came. For many years it was more natural for families and communities to teach their children what they needed to know.

And when public education first appeared, that same philosophy was prevalent. 

Today, not so much. Many factors have intervened, affecting how and if kids learn. Cell phones and social media have a great effect, and that effect is largely left to do damage by so many parents who don’t engage with their offspring as once was the habit. Those fairly new factors are a major influence today, but what happened prior to that?

With a federal agency largely in control, and handing out money, school systems do “what they need to do” to keep Washington happy. Last year, the DOE’s budget was $268 billion, and a lot of that went to schools.

And to a dangerous degree, Washington also does what it needs to do to keep voters happy. Millions of voters are involved in education at all levels. Streit cites political concerns as a major factor for the DOE, perhaps even the greatest one.

In 1979 then-President Jimmy Carter was campaigning for reelection, and it wasn’t going well. She notes that with “the Iran Hostage Crisis, crippling inflation, and gasoline shortages, Carter’s approval ratings had plummeted to a dismal 28 percent.”

Needing votes, Carter looked for support and focused on the largest labor union in the country, the National Education Association. While there was no movement in the country for a federal education department, the NEA had been very interested in that for a while.

“So, Carter gave the union what it wanted — a brand new government department and all the perks that go with it: a big budget, a big stick with which to threaten local schools (adopt this program or you won’t get federal dollars) and a big bureaucracy, which they could fill with their loyalists,” Streit wrote. 

Even so, with three candidates in the race in 1980, Ronald Reagan defeated Carter with 50.8% of the vote to Carter’s 41.0%

The DOE began as a political institution, and not focused on students. Its employees are mostly Democrats, Streit wrote, and it dispenses about $80 billion to schools across the country. It goes to educationally questionable initiatives like “teacher development,” “diversity training,” “critical theory studies” and “climate change” awareness, as well as hiring school administrators, counselors, and their assistants, not on educational objectives.

It is fairly clear that the DOE hasn’t helped education, and has actually made things worse. 

Trump’s efforts at cleaning up the federal government and cutting spending will be aided by shutting down the DOE, and it may well help make public education better.