The Department of Education (DOE) was established under President Jimmy Carter in 1979 with the stated goal of helping American schoolchildren become high achievers and compete with the rest of the world. This has not happened, as student scores have remained stagnant, if not floundering. While some of the blame could be tied to COVID-era setbacks, students were slowly sinking long before the pandemic lockdowns.

This is especially tragic when one considers that many of our students aren’t proficient in basic skills, which makes the rest of their school experience that much harder. For example, the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress results just came out, and among fourth graders, seven out of 10 weren’t proficient in reading. This means 70% are reading below grade level. Moreover, 60% are struggling to comprehend basic math.

Clearly, the DOE is not performing its duty.

In a recent op-ed in The Free Press, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos lays out why she believes the department should be quashed. DeVos acknowledges that this measure may seem extreme. After all, most people think that abolishing the DOE means public schooling is at stake. This is not the case at all.

I can understand how that idea, which President Donald Trump is committed to advancing, might sound a bit radical. But having spent four years on the inside as secretary of education, struggling to get the department’s bureaucracy to make even the smallest changes to put the needs of students first, I can say conclusively that American students will be better off without.

Nothing could be more important to our success as a nation than having well-educated citizens. But don’t be fooled by the name: the Department of Education has almost nothing to do with actually educating anyone.

What does the DOE do? According to DeVos:

The Department of Education does not run a single school. It does not employ any teachers in a single classroom. It doesn’t set academic standards or curriculum. It isn’t even the primary funder of education — quite the opposite. In most states, the federal government represents less than 10 percent of K–12 public education funding.

So what does it do? It shuffles money around; adds unnecessary requirements and political agendas via its grants; and then passes the buck when it comes time to assess if any of that adds value.

DeVos calls the DOE a middleman that only supports the desires of the teachers union and other bureaucrats.

Here’s how it works: Congress appropriates funding for education; last year, it totaled nearly $80 billion. The department’s bureaucrats take in those billions, add strings and red tape, peel off a percentage to pay for themselves, and then send it down to state education agencies. Many of them do a version of the same and then send it to our schools. The schools must then pay first for administrators to manage all the requirements that have been added along the way. After all that, the money makes it to the classroom to help a student learn — maybe.

In other words, the Department of Education is functionally a middleman. And like most middlemen, it doesn’t add value. It merely adds cost and complexity.

The only certain benefactor of the DOE’s existence is its patron saint: the teachers unions.

And just what do the teachers unions do? They lobby for left-wing causes and hold up the workings of the public schools for political gain.

The DOE is merely a monetary funnel for the leftists in government. Nor is it limited to K-12. DeVoss also pins the blame on DOE federal subsidies for making the higher education price tag so astronomical and universities so left-leaning. Federal money always comes with strings.

President Trump has made it clear that he wants to return education to the states. Consequently, many states are preparing for that possibility, including our home state of Tennessee, which has just passed school choice.

The idea is that if taxpayer money follows the student, that student then has the ability to go wherever he or she wants rather than being forced into poorly run schools. This will create competition and hopefully drive innovation in our approach to education.

Trump’s goal is for Education Secretary nominee Linda McMahon “to put herself out of a job.”

Granted, there are some things that will need to be sorted out. For example, Trump cannot just disband the DOE; that would take an act of Congress. He can, however, get rid of wasteful spending. Frankly, if the DOE is anything like USAID, the teachers unions are going to be very unhappy with the forthcoming recommendations from the Department of Government Efficiency.

The DOE is also responsible for enforcing things like Title IX. Perhaps this can be moved to another department within the executive branch. If left to the states, California would happily take the opportunity to destroy women’s sports.

McMahon’s Senate hearing is set for this week. Here’s hoping she will be confirmed quickly and can get straight to work.

DeVos has laid the groundwork for McMahon and also made her case for Congress to get rid of the Department of Education. Let’s see if it’s enough to earn 60 votes.