Good Doctor on department of education

[VoteRonPaul2008]

Can someone help me understand this in a way I can explain it to other people.. I realize that Paul wants the fed government out of this... so what will this do? and why does he have this position? how does he want education to be given to students then?

Thank you advance!

 

[Corydoras]

Education is not constitutionally a federal responsibility.
The Department of Education was not created until 1980, and people were educated FINE before then. All it has done has been to create another layer of expensive bureaucracy.
Education should be responsive to local needs and concerns, especially since it is funded locally, and since different regions may have different concerns about what an education should include.
The parents of the children who are actually in a district should be able to influence the district.
Ending the Department of Education will save a huge amount of money.

 

[chipvogel]

department of education and others

I'd just be honest...I don't know what the department of education does.

I don't know what 3/4 of the departments at the federal level do. I don't think I'm alone in thinking that most of the federal departments to be merged into one big department "The department of redistributing wealth"

I guess the real question is what is the department of education doing that state and local municipalities aren't doing?

Is there any reason to believe that managing education at the federal level improves education?

With 3 different levels of government managing the same thing....can't we just get rid of one of those levels?

 

[VoteRonPaul2008]

thanks for your responses..
this may sound ignoran.. but do states have individual departments of education?

 

[bbachtung]

Here's the federal Department of Education's explanation of its budget:

ED currently administers a budget of about $67.2 billion per year—$57.5 billion in discretionary appropriations and $9.7 billion in mandatory appropriations—and operates programs that touch on every area and level of education.

***

That said, it is important to point out that education in America is primarily a State and local responsibility, and ED's budget is only a small part of both total national education spending and the overall Federal budget

http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/index.html?src=gu

Here is greater detail on the history and budget of the federal Department of Education:

Of an estimated $1 trillion being spent nationwide on education at all levels for school year 2007-2008, a substantial majority will come from State, local, and private sources. This is especially true at the elementary and secondary level, where just over 91 percent of the funds will come from non-Federal sources.

http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html

 

[bbachtung]

thanks for your responses..
this may sound ignoran.. but do states have individual departments of education?

Yes. Every state has some sort of department responsible for regulating teachers and schooling.

 

[VoteRonPaul2008]

Okay thank you!

 

[Chickensoup]

Without looking it up, name one thing that the Department of Education does.


Thats what I thought. This is a major department of the Federal government and almost noone can correctly state what it actually does. Whats the point?

 

[Fyretrohl]

Without looking it up, name one thing that the Department of Education does.


Thats what I thought. This is a major department of the Federal government and almost noone can correctly state what it actually does. Whats the point?

I am pretty sure they fund and dictate some of the college loan and scholarship/grant programs. IE: Pell Grants, Fed Ford Loans, etc.