In addition to providing another $500 million to the baby butchers at Planned Parenthood, the Republican-controlled Congress delivered record funding levels for the unconstitutional U.S. Department of Education — a department that President Donald Trump proposed abolishing on the campaign trail. Even worse than betraying voters and their oath of office to the Constitution, lawmakers betrayed America’s youth, too.
In his budget proposal, Trump had asked Congress to slash funding at the federal Education Department by almost $10 billion. Instead, they boosted even “discretionary” spending by over $2.5 billion, a staggering amount, even setting aside the fact that the U.S. government is now more than $20 trillion in debt with and estimated $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities.
At first, Trump threatened to veto the “ridiculous” omnibus scheme. But ultimately, citing “national security” concerns, he surrendered.
The details are even worse. As part of the Trump administration’s proposals, they asked Congress to eliminate funding for the Orwellian data systems that have been vacuuming up private student data for almost two decades. They also requested cuts to the Institute of Education Sciences, which mines all of the data collected on America’s children. That would have been a win for freedom and privacy.
In addition, the Trump budget eliminated the “Preschool Development Grants,” aimed at getting children into the government’s clutches at earlier and earlier ages. And it slashed “professional development” schemes for educators, much of which is squandered indoctrinating teachers on the alleged evils of free markets, Christianity, heterosexuality, whiteness, Western civilization, and more.
Unfortunately for taxpayers, children, privacy, and the Constitution, Congress flaunted Trump’s relatively minor requests for cuts. In many cases, lawmakers actually boosted funding for the offensive and unconstitutional programs, and even created new ones. Not a single major program or agency received a dime in cuts, even though virtually every Republican campaigned on reining in federal spending and meddling.
On the bright side, if this monstrosity can be said to have one, the final $1.3 trillion “omnibus,” which nobody read before voting on it, did not expand the federalized “school choice” schemes that eliminate real choice. Still, so-called “charter” schools, which help put independent private and Christian schools out of business, received an increase of almost $60 million. Institutions known as “21st Century Community Learning Centers” also got a big boost.
Even progressive “education” mouthpieces were flabbergasted. “So the final appropriations for fiscal 2018 are a significant rebuke of sorts to the president’s education vision,” explained Education Week, a liberal education site that pushes establishment viewpoints and shuts out true conservatives. According to EdWeek, as it’s known for short, this is the highest-ever appropriation for the U.S. Department of Education, in dollar terms.
Far-left Democrats were thrilled, too. “I’m proud to have worked with Republicans in Congress to flatly reject these ideas [proposed by the administration], and increase funding for programs Secretary DeVos tried to cut, including K-12 education, civil rights protections, college affordability, and more,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
This disgraceful budget highlights everything that is wrong with Washington, D.C. — it is an insult to voters and taxpayers, and it will be a disaster for students, families, and real education. Not only is there no constitutional authority for federal involvement in education, it’s a terrible idea. In fact, the feds have been among the leading forces responsible for the transformation of government education into a scheme for indoctrinating and dumbing down students.
It is time to abolish the U.S. Department of Education and get the feds out of the classroom. And in the meantime, parents must respond to the threat of dumbed-down Fed Ed by protecting their own children — and getting them out!
