This Is the Way: Thomas Massie Introduces Bill to Demolish the Department of Education

The Department of Education is, like many of the departments in the federal government, a waste of time, money, and an intrusion on local control. It doens’t have many good reasons for its existence and, if we’re being honest, acts more as a vanity project that administrations can use to say they’re doing something new and good for the kids. 

It should rightfully be destroyed and that’s what Kentucky’s Thomas Massie is trying to do. 

On Wednesday, Massie announced on X that he introduced H.R. 899, a bill that would obliterate the DoE. 

“I introduced a bill to end the Department of Education,” Massie posted. “We must return the money and authority back to states, school districts, teachers, and parents before it’s too late.”

I introduced a bill to end the Department of Education.

We must return the money and authority back to states, school districts, teachers, and parents before it’s too late. pic.twitter.com/XQ2rNpNtSs

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) February 21, 2024

On Massie’s website, he goes into further detail, quoting former President Ronald Reagan who also wanted to collapse the Department of Education: 

“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” said Massie. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school.”
The Department of Education began operating in 1980. On September 24, 1981, in his Address to the Nation on the Program for Economic Recovery, President Ronald Reagan said, “As a third step, we propose to dismantle two Cabinet Departments, Energy and Education. Both Secretaries are wholly in accord with this. Some of the activities in both of these departments will, of course, be continued either independently or in other areas of government. There’s only one way to shrink the size and cost of big government, and that is by eliminating agencies that are not needed and are getting in the way of a solution. Now, we don’t need an Energy Department to solve our basic energy problem. As long as we let the forces of the marketplace work without undue interference, the ingenuity of consumers, business, producers, and inventors will do that for us. Similarly, education is the principal responsibility of local school systems, teachers, parents, citizen boards, and State governments. By eliminating the Department of Education less than 2 years after it was created, we cannot only reduce the budget but ensure that local needs and preferences, rather than the wishes of Washington, determine the education of our children.”

The DoE is know for spending ridiculous sums of money that, while it has been reduced significantly (nearly $638 billion in 2022 down to $274 billionin 2023) still takes up an enormous amount of taxpayer dollars, most of which go to grants and student loans, the latter of which Democrats want to use your taxpayer dollars to pay off. 

It should also be mentioned that this is where radical activists come to roost. In 2021, I reported how the Biden administration promoted two radical CRT groups through the DoE in order to transform the curriculum in our nation’s schools, one of which openly said they wanted to be “feared.” 

In September of last year, the DoE decided to investigate author and educator Christopher Rufo for “misgendering” a DEI director at New College of Florida. 

It’s a ridiculous department that isn’t really good for much and horrible in every other way. It’s rife for corruption and abuse, and it’s time for it to go. 

As Massie notes, power over the education system should be given to state and local officials. Families and communities should have far more power over how their child is educated and the federal government should stay well out of it.