Under the direction of then President, Jimmy Carter, Congress established the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on May 4, 1980, in the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88 of October 1979). The original Department of Education was established in 1867 where it was quickly relegated to a relatively minor bureau.
Currently, The Department of Education has the highest consumption of Federal Tax Dollars. It is by far the smallest Cabinet-level department.
It is well past time that "We the People" rise up and contact the new Republican members of Congress urging them to cut as many agencies as possible. If a program can't be cut, outsource it to the private sector.
This way, the taxpayer won't be paying for employee union dues, pensions, health care and those great holidays they get to take while the "cake eaters" work to pay for their salaries all the the while eating stale government week old cake.
Under this law, The Department of Education’s mission is to:
Strengthen the Federal commitment to assuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;
Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;
Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;
Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through Federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;
Improve the coordination of Federal education programs;
Improve the management of Federal education activities; and
Increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public.
The Federal Role in Education
There are several organizations within the ED. They include the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, the National Center for Education Statistics, the Planning and Evaluation Service, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Office of Special Education Programs, and the National Research and Dissemination Centers for Career and Technical Education.
In the United States, state and local governments decide most education policy. The role of the federal government is restricted by the Tenth Amendment to that of guarding the right of its citizens to equal access to public institutions and equal opportunity within them.
Additionally, through the funding of research, financial aid to students, and the dissemination of information, the federal government is involved in improving the quality of education.
The federal government also funds and administers elementary and secondary schools for dependents of civilian and military personnel abroad, operated by the Department of Defense, and has some control over postsecondary institutions that prepare students for military careers.
Otherwise, it is not involved directly in post-secondary educational institutions except for certain responsibilities delineated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Education funding comes primarily from state, local, and federal taxes.
When the department of education was formed it had 450 employees and a budget of $18.1 billion. Today, its budget is $70 billion with about 5000 employees.
The United States may be a superpower but in education it lags behind. In a recent comparison of academic performance in 57 countries, students in Finland came out on top overall. Finnish 15-year-olds did the best in science and came in second in math. Other top-performing countries were: Hong Kong, Canada, Taiwan, Estonia, Japan and Korea.
In a cross section of interviews conducted with teachers at K-12 there was a common theme. (Not a scientific poll) They could not identify how the Department of Education benefited their students or themselves as teachers.
They also agreed that since the academic curriculum is developed at the state and local level this additional bureaucracy may not be needed.
It would seem as though this is one federal agency that is ripe for the chopping block. The goals of the Department of Education are obsequious, they fail to meet their mission statement, thus no further federal funding can be justified.
When Jimmy Carter formed the current Department of Energy its goal was to have the United States become energy independent. Well that went well, and seems to be another program that can no longer be justified. Stay tuned, as this will be covered in a future article.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it, I’m J.C.
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Copyright © 2010 Jim Campbell
Please visit my website at A Charging Elephant
Continue reading on Examiner.com: It's time to abolish the Department of Education - National Conservative | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/it-s-time-to-abolish-the-department-of-education#ixzz1EdOky27t
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