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| | The Department of Education (DoE) imposes federal standards and requirements on public schools throughout our Nation, and has been controversial for decades. Many conservatives have called for it to be eliminated, because education is primarily a matter of local control. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to control education. | | The Department of Education (DoE) imposes federal standards and requirements on public schools throughout our Nation, and has been controversial for decades. Many conservatives have called for it to be eliminated, because education is primarily a matter of local control. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution authorizes the federal government to control education. |
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| − | Yet there it is, spending $68 billion a year.<ref>http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html</ref> The Department of Education proposed, adopted, and implemented regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act (which were largely unsuccessful, and which many states have obtained exemptions from key parts of). Since 2010 the Department of Education's has been promoting "Common Core Standards," which is a set of educational standards developed by liberal organizations for public schools around the Nation to follow.<ref>The Common Core Standards were endorsed in 2009 by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, and subsequently promoted by the Obama Administration. http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-national-governors-association-and-state-education-chiefs-common-core-</ref> For example, part of the Common Core Standards is "fuzzy math," which focuses not on whether the final answer is right or wrong, but the thinking by the student in analyzing a question. Fuzzy math is a departure from the traditional skill-building instruction of arithmetic drills. | + | Yet there it is, spending $68 billion a year.<ref>http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html</ref> The Department of Education proposed, adopted, and implemented regulations for the No Child Left Behind Act (which were largely unsuccessful, and which many states have obtained exemptions from key parts of). Since 2010 the Department of Education has been promoting "Common Core Standards," which is a set of educational standards developed by liberal organizations for public schools around the Nation to follow.<ref>The Common Core Standards were endorsed in 2009 by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, and subsequently promoted by the Obama Administration. http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-national-governors-association-and-state-education-chiefs-common-core-</ref> For example, part of the Common Core Standards is "fuzzy math," which focuses not on whether the final answer is right or wrong, but on various ways that a student might analyze a question. Fuzzy math is a departure from the traditional approach of doing arithmetic drills. |
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| − | The Department of Education gives grants to states that comply the most with its agenda and objectives. This illustrates the "power of the purse": an agency with little legitimate authority can exercise enormous influence if it has money to dole out to those who comply. In the "Race to the Top" program, New York State received a grant of $700 million from the Department of Education for doing most what the Department wanted, which may or may not have been good for students.<ref>http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/new-york-wins-race-to-the-top-grant/</ref> And this illustrates why it is so difficult to eliminate federal agencies once they are established: people who would "lose" the money that the agency is handing out have an interest in keeping the agency going. | + | The Department of Education gives grants to states that comply with its agenda and objectives. This illustrates the "power of the purse": an agency with little legitimate authority can exercise enormous influence if it has money to dole out to those who comply. In the "Race to the Top" program, New York State received a grant of $700 million from the Department of Education for doing most what the Department wanted, which may or may not have been good for students.<ref>http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/new-york-wins-race-to-the-top-grant/</ref> And this illustrates why it is so difficult to eliminate federal agencies once they are established: people who would "lose" the money that the agency is handing out have an interest in keeping the agency going. |
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| − | Needless to say, Governor Rick Perry had no trouble in the Republican presidential debate earlier this year remembering the Department of Education as the first federal department he would eliminate if he were elected president. The one he failed to remember was the Energy Department, which has interfered with the drilling for oil in Texas and elsewhere. | + | Needless to say, Governor Rick Perry had no trouble in the Republican presidential debate earlier this year remembering the Department of Education as the first federal department he would eliminate if he were elected president. (The one he failed to remember was the Energy Department, which has interfered with the drilling for oil in Texas and elsewhere.) |
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| | === Commerce Department === | | === Commerce Department === |