A congressional committee’s recent vote should be a message to taxpayers: Yes, it is possible to close the U.S. Department of Education.
The House Appropriations Committee approved a proposal to cut an entire program from the agency, demonstrating how lawmakers can downsize and then eliminate the department.
The Appropriations Committee voted to defund Title II, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law governing K-12 schools. The proposal now goes to the full U.S. House.
This specific title directs federal spending on teacher professional development and recruiting, which sound like worthwhile initiatives—except that these programs have failed for years to help teachers and students.
Just ask advocates of Title II, Part A about professional development.
In 2015, The New Teacher Project tried to uncover what, exactly, would be…
