A bill to abolish the Department of Education has been introduced to Congress by South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds. The bill’s short name is “Returning Education to Our States Act” and within 180 days of its passage, the DOE would be completely abolished.
But what does this mean? Would Education be completely defunded and deregulated? Some liberal pundits have gone as far as to say that schools in Southern red states would have full jurisdiction to enforce religion on non-religious students.
Despite that possibly being exactly what they need, this is not the case. Nor is it the case that federal funding for education would entirely disappear, or that education would be federally deregulated.
Instead, the bill transfers the function of funding to the treasury, and outlines a formula for determining how much federal funding each state will receive. It likely will be something similar to what they already receive. Once that funding hits the states, the states determine where it goes.
However, the bill does require that the funds be used to further the best interests of elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools.
The bill also outlines specific areas of the DOE that will remain in place, but be transferred to different departments. Special Education regulation for example will be passed to the Department of Health and Human Services, while administering the Pell Grant, and Direct Loan Program will be passed to the Treasury.
When it comes to Block Grants, the bill sets fourth compliance requirements, for example each state must commit to an annual audit, submit student data, and comply with federal civil rights laws.
This third condition shows exactly how regulation will still exist within the post-DOE America. Civil rights laws are regulations but are rooted in the constitution’s equal protection clause. Separation of church in state, is also a constitutional requirement, so don’t worry about elementary schools being turned into church houses.
A post-DOE world will likely consist of many smaller departments of education, each on the state level. This allows each state to cook up their own curriculum based on what parents in those states believe is most important to be taught.
