Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

It’s time to restructure the US Department of Education | Seattle Education

It’s time to restructure the US Department of Education | Seattle Education:

It’s time to restructure the US Department of Education

ed_gl_org_chart
The structure of the USDOE as of 2013 and now with 5,000 employees.

Two of our constitutional amendments played an important role in public education. In 1791, the 10th Amendment stated, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”  Public education was not mentioned as one of those federal powers, and so historically has been delegated to the local and state governments.
The League of Women VotersRole Of Federal Government In Public Education: Historical Perspectives

Donald Trump Holds Weekend Meetings In Bedminster, NJ











Betsy DeVos with Donald Trump.
For the last decade, educators and parents have been in a reactive mode in terms of federal policies on education starting with No Child Left Behind, then Race to the Top, charter schools, vouchers and now the selection of Betsy DeVos as the new Secretary of Education.
Looking at the last eight years that I have been following public education closely, I have continuously been in a reactive mode, constantly writing about what shouldn’t be rather than what should be.
It’s time to turn the tables and look at where we are now, how we got here and a better way forward and I suggest starting at the top with the US Department of Education (USDOE).
Over the years there has developed a disconnect between what teachers are doing and It’s time to restructure the US Department of Education | Seattle Education: