Betsy DeVos Calls for Abolishing the Department of Education
“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist”
Betsy DeVos, who served as Education Secretary under Trump, recently said that the Department of Education should not exist and even called for its abolishment.
She made the remarks while addressing the group ‘Moms for Liberty.’ People on the left are clutching their pearls.
The Hill reports:
Trump Education secretary says ‘Department of Education should not exist’
Former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos believes that the department she once led should be abolished.
Devos, who spent four years as the Education secretary during the Trump administration, made the remarks at the inaugural Moms for Liberty summit on Saturday, according to the Florida Phoenix.
“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” Devos told the mostly conservative crowd in Tampa, Fla.
Devos was a leading proponent of “education freedom” during her time in office, promoting vouchers to allow families to choose their children’s school.
In a speech in 2020, she said, “I fight against anyone who would have government be the parent to everyone.”
Moms for Liberty is a conservative group that rose to national prominence for its objection to children wearing face masks at school during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The local news outlet also reported that summit attendees were given tips on how to recruit, promote and endorse conservative school board candidates.
After the last couple of years, there are probably thousands of Americans who now feel the same way about the Department of Education.
FOX News points out that this is what made DeVos a frequent target of the left:
Throughout her time in the Trump administration, DeVos was a frequent target of teacher unions and Democrats because of her advocacy for school choice and vouchers. The former education secretary recently called the Biden administration’s new parents council a “laughable” attempt to fix “a very glaring issue” in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
“Parents across the country are upset for a variety of reasons with how the system has handled the last two years. And they remain upset and they… want to have control of their children’s education,” she said.
This is not a new conservative position. President Ronald Reagan advocated for disbanding the department. Since then, others have picked up the idea.
Patrick Carroll wrote at the Foundation for Economic Education back in April:
Reagan’s Goal to End the Department of Education Is Finally Gaining Momentum
The debate over the federal role in education has been going on for decades. Some say the feds should have a relatively large role while others say it should be relatively small. But while most people believe there should be at least some federal oversight, some believe there should be none at all.
Rep. Thomas Massie is one of those who believes there should be no federal involvement in education, and he is actively working to make that a reality. In February 2021, he introduced H.R. 899, a bill that perfectly encapsulates his views on this issue. It consists of one sentence:
“This bill terminates the Department of Education on December 31, 2022.”
This position may seem radical, but Massie is not alone. The bill had 8 cosponsors when it was introduced and has been gaining support ever since. On Monday, Massie announced that Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) decided to cosponsor the bill, bringing the total number of cosponsors to 18.
Though it may be tempting to think Massie and his supporters just don’t care about education, this is certainly not the case. If anything, they are pushing to end the federal Department of Education precisely because they care about educational outcomes. In their view, the Department is at best not helping and, at worst, may actually be part of the problem.
“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” said Massie when he initially introduced the bill. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students.”
Massie is echoing sentiments expressed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, who advocated dismantling the Department of Education even though it had just begun operating in 1980.
Parents in local communities should decide what’s best for their children and their schools, not federal bureaucrats and unions.
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True. It has been an unfolding tragedy ever since.
Devos want to do away with the DOE.
If I ever became president, and a non-Uniparty majority in the Congress, the number of federal laws, agencies, officers that I would repeal will take your breath away. I would do so using the written text of the Constitution, most notably the 10th Amendment, as my guide and cut fedgov back to its limited role.
Okay, it’s a rough measure but I would guess that today’s fedgov should be 1/1oth its current size.
There is only one know alternative to limited, contained government, and that is ___________
“Oh, oh, Sister, Sister, call on me. I know the answer. I know, I know.”
“Okay, Phillip, I hope you know the answer because if you’re wrong it’ll be ruler to rap your knuckles and the strap to redden your palm. Go ahead.”
“It’s Unlimited Government, the kind that the Democrat Party wants to saddle onto the country by having more and more dependent people. What we need are people who are personally responsible and accept loss when they do things that are not socially helpful, and then change their ways.”
“Okay, I’ll accept that answer.”
Many are familiar with the concept of Tax Freedom Day, that day in the calendar year on which the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year.
https://taxfoundation.org/publications/tax-freedom-day/
Government borrowings for this purpose are ignored, though imo they shouldn’t be.
This calendar day comes sooner for residents of states whose elected officials obey their state’s constitutional oath and control their government. It comes much later in the year for residents of states whose government officials spend wildly (NY, IL, CA, others).
Sobering fact and harsh comparison. TFD is generally speaking mid- to late-April. In 1789 Tax Freedom Day was in early January.
The repubs always sound much better when they’re out of power. She held the secretary post, why didn’t she get started with the dismantling?
Do we have the makings of a blockbuster, grandfather paradox, time-traveling film here? The department gets abolished and Betsy travels back in time with a Hawkins Chrono-77, time dilator to her past tenure as Education Secretary only to find that school guidance counselors from the far future are there to eliminate her before she can take action abolish the department.
Why did she do nothing toward this end while she was running it?
Sometimes you need to see something from the inside to understand just how broken it really is.
Because there will be a bipartisan push back against it for starters.
Because the left tried to stop everythng she did. She was sued 455 times during her tenure, more than any other time in the history of the DOEd.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2020/10/28/betsy-devos-lawsuits/3750238001/
You might as well ask her boss at the time. The answer is the same; lack of political will to do so. Blaming a Cabinet Sec for execution of the policy priorities set by the man who appointed her seems unserious. Blaming DJT is equally unserious, at most DJT could have delayed expending the money Congress appropriated until forced to do so, and he would have been forced.
Congress could have refused to appropriate funding in any year’s budget but there is a lack of support in Congress for that. Get your Rep and two Senators on board with the idea. If we all do that then we can make headway towards ripping it out root and stem.
Exactly
The Constitution doesn’t give the federal government a role in education. Yeah, I know; nobody cares.
They ought to care that the Department of Education doesn’t educate anyone. It’s certainly not worth the money that is spent on it. People act as if nobody will be literate unless there is a gaggle of bureaucrats in Washington D.C. “educating” the citizenry. Meh.
Freewheelin’ Franklin for President 2024!
And after that, Fat Freddy’s Cat!
Public sector unions should also be abolished. They serve no purpose other than entrenching the deep state apparatchiks in power, making reforming bureaucracies more difficult even if there was the political will to do so.
Get rid of the Department of Education and the job is half done.
Take the Department of Energy with it. Both spend a lot of money but are tales Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
You racist, sexist bigot! Quoting a dead white man!
You racist, sexist bigot! Quoting a dead white man!
Actually, you must have been educated before the racist, sexist Dept. of Ed.
At least he’s dead….
But still voting Democrat
Unless and until Trump can pass the schedule “F” employee and actually fire Federal employees and/or we get a house of true MAGA majority ( and corresponding state legislatures)- nothing will happen.
The bureaucrat is basically untouchable and unaccountable and the House ( both the LEFT and GOPe) are accomplices in the same crime ( just different end goals- the agendas are almost parallel)
Don’t buy the lie or fool yourself
She ended up being a traitor to Trump
Never liked her much but detest her now
Pretty much agree with you but remember the broken clock
Your imagination is a good one, but Betsy DeVos was a great secretary of education who did a lot of hard work in some of the most important battles in this country ranging from CRT in schools to due process on campus.
You are free to be petty towards her however. She was beating the drum about the importance of education during the Bush years when Republicans generally decided that they would become the anarchists.
Hear Hear!
It’s a Marxist run operation to brainwash American students