Liberty Maven

“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is their interest to preserve peace and order, and they will preserve them.  And it required no very high degree of education to convince them of this. They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson, 1787

Originally published October 20, 2009 at http://towneforcongress.com/economy/abolish-the-federal-department-of-education-1

Last night with the Liberty Bell Center of Constitutional Studies, I was part of a panel answering questions on public education with the Concerned Citizens of Bethlehem Area School District. The BASD has been plagued with financial troubles stemming from OTC derivatives purchases, and previously I gave an educational presentation to this group on financial derivatives.

After the lecture from LBCCS founder Paul Fiske who related how our founding fathers viewed education, Ryan Burgett, chairman of LBCCS and I (as a member of LBCCS) took questions and there was one question I was unable to answer without a projector, which was the breakdown of spending by the federal Department of Education, which is below or can be viewed online here. I also gave a short synopsis of the history and issues I have with this Department.

For the first 177 years in American history, there was no federal Department of Education, which was reserved to the states and localities to handle as they saw fit. This was also in agreement with the Constitution of the United States, which does not provide any justification whatsoever for federal power over education; in fact, the 9th and 10th Amendments make such action both unconstitutional and illegal.

This changed in 1953 when Republican President Dwight Eisenhower created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Prior attempts by Presidents Harding and Roosevelt had failed. This department has another black mark as it is the only one created solely by presidential authority without the permission of Congress.

The powers of this department continued to grow until Democrat President Jimmy Carter, envisioning a “compassionate” federal government, spun off the Department of Education (known as ‘ED’) in 1979. For close to the next 20 years, one of the major distinctions between the Republican and Democratic parties was concerned this department. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan was in favor of abolishing the department, he was not able to do so. As recently as 1996, the Republican Platform read:

“Because we trust our fellow Americans, rather than centralized government, we believe the people, acting through their State and local elected officials, should have control over programs like education and welfare - thereby pushing power away from official Washington and returning it to the people in their communities and states… We support elimination of the Departments of Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Education, and Energy, and the elimination, defunding or privatization of agencies which are obsolete, redundant, of limited value, or too regional in focus.”

Under Democrat President Bill Clinton, ED continued growing from spending of $32 billion in 1992 to $38 billion in 2000. However, ED received its fastest growth under Republican President George Bush II. From 2000 until 2008, Bush II more than doubled the budget, from $38 billion to a maximum of $100 billion spent in 2006 with spending plans like “No Child Left Behind.”

ED lowlights in 2008 included:

• $68.5 billion spent by the Department of Education in total
• $24 billion spent on post-secondary education, including many loans to college students
• $38 billion spent on elementary and secondary education
• $5.6 billion spent in what can best be described as ‘R&B’ – research and bureaucracy

Now, spending lots of money on education may seem like a good thing to the uninformed, but there have been no tanglible results over the past couple decades, if anything the exact opposite. Why is this so? Well, besides the wasteful spending on bureaucracy, a few points:

1. Similar to health care best being dealt between doctors and patients, education is best handled on the local level between parents and teachers. Both health care and the education of children are very important. Remember that when a Washington bureaucrat’s authority over the spending of funds is required, it is the child who suffers.

2. Federal mandates on education has the effect of stifling local diversity and choking off competition. What we want is a healthy competition of “50 laboratories” from state-to-state and between local areas, not a universal “one-size-fits-all” education. The more self-rule and autonomy by local communities provides local diversity and overall greater satisfaction for individual families.

3. The redistribution and control of federal funds (and certainly also on the state level) to localities makes local areas subservient to bureaucrats, even though, in most cases these are the exact same funds the taxpayer paid in to the federal and state governments. More local autonomy over funds increases both the efficiency and self-ownership over the spending of these funds.

4. It is also far easier for a parent to hold a local school board official accountable if this official is entrusted with all of the necessary responsibilities. Local communities that wanted to spend more on education could do still so, through either local taxation or – if one thinks outside the box for just a moment – fundraisers, fairs, and PTAs.

5. While Perkins Loans and Pell Grants for the purpose of college education seem like the greatest invention since sliced bread, their overall effect is to put bureaucrats in charge of the decisions in who receives which loans. Ever hear a parent complain about the cost of their kid’s college tuition? By flooding the market with credit, these government programs lead to colleges to both charge more and also become less efficient on fund allocation. [Note: The money-printing of the FED (inflation) is another root cause of rising tuition costs, to learn more read here.]

The Department of Education is one of many federal departments that, if they were to be abolished and disappeared off the face of the earth tomorrow, almost no one would notice. The bureaucrats all would have to seek healthy new jobs providing goods or services in the private economy. The grant and loan programs could all be halted and existing accounts closed out.

A final point in closing: one should keep in mind that ED’s budget of $68 billion dollars is sufficient to pay for the entire core federal government. We could pay for all of these federal government departments: the US House, US Senate, the White House’s staff, the Supreme Court, FBI, and the federal court system. Hmmm…   just another reason why we don’t need a federal income tax.

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Jake Towne is running for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania’s 15th District in the 2010 election as a citizen unaffiliated with any political parties. Jake also writes at www.LibertyMaven.com, www.NolanChart.comand www.CampaignForLiberty.com. A novel campaign website where you can comment on articles and start discussions is available at TowneForCongress.com.  [Reach the Author Here!]

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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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Veritas numquam perit. Veritas odit moras. Veritas vincit. Truth never perishes. Truth hates delay. Truth conquers.

Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito. Do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it.