South Dakota Republican Sen. Mike Rounds has introduced legislation to eliminate the federal Department of Education. However, educators themselves might not be totally on board with the idea.
A major piece of legislation proposed by the junior Senator would entirely remove the federal DoE. With a friendly Presidency incoming, if this were to pass Congress the bill likely faces an easy path to law.
Rounds said it’s an opportunity to retain local control of schools.
“I’d rather have that money go back into the schools and through voluntary associations with one another and different organizations – they’ll find the best way to take care of educating the kids," Rounds said. "I think we’re going to see test scores go up rather than go down. The administrative costs at the local level are miniscule compared to the cost of what the administration at the bureaucratic level in DC is.”
Rounds said he does not support the reallocation of DoE funds, instead allowing the money to go directly to the states as block grants.
Despite this claim of fund saving and removal of bureaucracy, not everyone is on board. That includes Cory Strasser, acting superintendent of Rapid City Area Schools.
“When you disband a federal program and you say its going to return to the states or that it’s going to go to other agencies, how are those other agencies able to carry out, effectively and efficiently, the pieces they’re supposed to," Strasser asks. "How are states then going to handle the funding mechanisms so that schools aren’t negatively impacted?”
Strasser said he’s skeptical his colleagues in the education field would support this move, citing financial and equity concerns if the DoE were to be eliminated.