Ryan Gerduski
Appearances
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
So I don't think you're going to see a massive slashing as far as spending goes. It's really who does the spending and where. So I don't think you're going to see most of it go away. There will be somewhat of a fingerprint still from the federal government on education, and then the rest will be deciphered by the states and local government.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
Congress has to vote for it, basically. He needs the 60 senators, and there's 53 Republicans, and I don't think most of the Republicans, not most, but there's a lot of Republicans who would not support abolishing the Department of Education. So a formal closing it down is probably not going to happen, but reducing its size and scope of what it does will probably happen.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
In some districts, like in Miami-Dade, which is a conservative majority school board, you're seeing dynamic changes. You're seeing Singapore math in the classrooms. You're seeing classical reading levels now, reading going to K-3, soon to be K-5.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
They're trying things, and when school boards are actually dynamic and have the ability to really make reforms, you're able to see big improvements in education.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
Before there was a Department of Education was something called the Office of Education that came out about like right after the Civil War in 1867. And the purpose of that was just to collect data on schools and on school, how they were performing, what books they were reading, make a document, give it to Congress. That was basically the entire thing.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
And then when Lyndon Johnson becomes president in the 1960s, he says, hey, we really need to revamp education. The federal government needs to get really involved. And he creates Title I, which is about how to distribute money to local municipalities across the country, especially low-performing, poor municipalities. And education fundamentally changes at that point once money is really involved.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
Jimmy Carter runs on the idea that he's going to create a Department of Education. This is a big campaign promise to the teachers unions. And it revamps education and broadens the scope of federal authority in the way that the federal government works with education.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
Many of the functions of the Department of Education were happening pre the creation, but they happen within different departments. This consolidates them, that brings it all under one house, and it really gives the teachers unions representation and also creates a massive budget. All the unions definitely create huge pressure. The teachers union is one of the largest unions in the country.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
And depending on what state you live in, they could be the largest union. in any given region.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
We want the Department of Education, certain things in the Department of Education to still happen. We want Title IX to be enforced, right? We don't want biological women to compete with biological men in sports. That is partly Title IX.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
My guess is he's probably going to move Title I into, basically give it back to the states almost immediately and have very limited federal interaction as far as distribution of state money goes. And then Title IX will probably get moved to the Department of Justice, is what I imagine, or or maybe Department of HHS, Department of Health and Human Services.
The Brett Cooper Show
It’s Time to Abolish the Department of Education — Here’s Why | Episode 4
Whatever they have to preserve, Pell grants will get moved to maybe the Treasury or something like that. Whatever they have to preserve will get moved to other federal departments. The Department of Education will probably be a building with no lights on.