Wow. I had no idea so many of you idiots have no idea what the Department of Education actually does. Its not some kind of evil Orwellian overlord controlling every chalkboard and crayon in America. The Department of Education doesnt write your kids science textbook. It doesnt decide if your high school offers AP U.S. History. And it sure as hell doesnt care if your state wants to teach that dinosaurs lived with people – go nuts, Florida.
You know who actually controls school curriculum? The states. Always have. Thats why some kids learn evolution and others learn Jesus rode a velociraptor into battle against socialism.
What the federal Department of Education does is make sure your local school doesnt refuse to accommodate your kid because shes in a wheelchair. Or segregate students by race. Or push girls into home ec while boys take robotics.
You know – just small, fascist-y stuff like basic civil rights protections.
They also hand out billions in federal funding for schools that dont discriminate, administer student loans, and track national education data so we know how badly were failing the next generation.
But not for long! This week, the Supreme Court basically gave Trump the green light to shut the whole thing down. Not by convincing Congress, like youre supposed to when you want to dismantle a federal agency, but by just firing everyone. Seriously. The Court said it was fine to gut the Department from the inside out by laying off half the staff and making it impossible to function.
And why do they want to get rid of it? Because its one of the only federal agencies that can step in when states decide that kids dont deserve equal access to education. Because it prevents schools from openly discriminating against students. Because it makes public data available showing exactly how bad some states are at educating anyone who isnt rich, white, or male. And because it dares to suggest that maybe – just maybe – every kid deserves a fair shot.
You dont hate the Department of Education because its ineffective. You hate it because it works exactly as its supposed to. Because it enforces laws you dont want to follow. Because its harder to build a theocratic little fiefdom when the federal government is still around making sure girls can play sports and Black kids can go to decent schools.
So no, the Department of Education isnt the problem. The problem is people who are terrified of accountability, allergic to equity, and nostalgic for a time when separate but equal was said with a straight face.
This isnt about education. Its about control. And the people trying to kill the DOE are counting on MAGA to co-sign this idiocy.