President Trump resumed office last January with a promise to downsize the federal government, and one of his targets was the federal Department of Education. It's a good target. There's no constitutional authorization for the federal government to be involved in education in any way, and the country got along very well without one until 1980. In fact, we may well have gotten along better without it. Schools have traditionally been a local matter, at the city, county, or (here) borough level. That's as it should be; schools should be closer to the families of the kids they are supposedly educating.
Now the Trump administration is taking some more steps to eliminate the Department of Education. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced the Department of Education was signing agreements to hand off a number of its functions to other agencies, working towards the shutdown.
The Trump administration announced Tuesday that the Department of Education signed a series of interagency agreements to shift power from a handful of its offices and programs to other federal agencies as it works to dismantle the federal department for good.
"The Trump Administration is taking bold action to break up the federal education bureaucracy and return education to the states," Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a Tuesday press release. "Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission. As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms."
In this matter, I'm inclined to quote former Senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater: "I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size." If this move will do that, so much the better; it will, at the very least, get rid of some dead wood.
The Department of Education announced six interagency agreements (IAAs) Tuesday with the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department and the Department of the Interior to co-manage or take a growing role in managing certain offices and programs, according to a background call with the media.
"We at the Department of Ed have engaged with other partner agencies over 200 times through IAAS to procure various services of other partner agencies over the years," a senior Education Department official said Tuesday during a call with the media. "Even the Biden administration did it to help implement the First Step Act, entering into an IAA with the Department of Justice. And so this is a tool that's frequently used."
This is what we can call "a good start."
Read More: Watch: Ed. Sec. Linda McMahon Shows How It's Done After Speech Gets Interrupted by 'Clowns'
Now, let's see the Trump administration really get this ball rolling. Don't just stop with Education. Get the Congress fired up, start defunding and shutting down all of these agencies not authorized in the Constitution, including the departments of Environment, Commerce, Energy, and Labor. Adopt the style of Argentina's President Milei, and wield not a scalpel but a chainsaw. Let's pare the federal government down to its constitutional limits; defund, starve, and shut down the imperial colossus it has become.
That would be an accomplishment that would really put this administration in the history books.
Editor's Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America's kids get the education they deserve.
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