March 30, 2023 12:12 PM UTC

Abolishing The Department of Education, Again and Again

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Grand Junction Sentinel’s Nathan Deal reports, Colorado’s queen of the far-right rodeo (better that than the chef) Rep. Lauren Boebert voted this week for a failed amendment to a Republican education bill with itself little chance of passing the Democratic U.S. Senate. Sixty Republican members joined with Democrats to reject the amendment that would fancifully declare the U.S. Department of Education will stop existing at the end of this year:

The amendment aimed to “add a sense of congress that the authority of the Department of Education and the secretary of Education to operate or administer any office or program related to elementary or secondary education should be terminated on or before Dec. 31, 2023.”

The amendment failed by a 265-161 vote, with 60 Republicans opposing it along with all 205 Democrats. After the vote, Boebert posted a video to her Twitter account elaborating on her stance.

“Our public schools should have local control, not a centralized federal government pushing curriculum that’s way, way far away from reading, writing and arithmetic,” Boebert said. “One hundred and 61 Republicans voted to get rid of the Department of Education, but we still had 60 Republicans join every Democrat to defeat that amendment. The unfortunate reality is that our federal government is going to continue to have a big say on pushing drag shows, gender ideology, Critical Race Theory and all this other woke BS.”

Rather than simply taking Boebert’s word for what the federal Department of Education does, Deal brought the question before local officials at Mesa County’s School District 51. And the reality is, as you already know from the countless times we’ve heard this solution in search of a problem proposed by Republicans, far less controversial:

According to [District 51 Chief Financial Officer Melanie] Trujillo, about 15% of revenue the district receives each fiscal year comes from federal funds…

“Fifteen percent of our revenue is significant and the needs wouldn’t really change. We would still need to provide meals for our students, we would still need additional interventions for our students that are at-risk, and we would still have the special education services that we’re required to provide,” Trujillo said.

Trujillo added that the district currently does not have a solidified contingency plan in place yet should the U.S. Department of Education be shut down in the coming years because of how heavily the district depends on those dollars for programs like Title I and special education. [Pols emphasis]

Much like Boebert doesn’t understand the difference between federal law enforcement and the New York prosecutor working on ex-President Donald Trump’s hush money case, Boebert doesn’t realize that decisions about “pushing drag shows” or other such topics are decided at the local level. That’s why Colorado, the state Boebert represents in Congress, has robust anti-discrimination laws. That’s also how Boebert’s native state of Florida has been able to transform their public school system into a hostile environment for any kid who doesn’t fit with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 1950s-era moral code.

The real losers if the Department of Education were eliminated, as your own local district will be happy to explain if you ask, would be poor and special-needs students. The gap in public perception and reality encouraged by Boebert’s gross misrepresentation of what the Department of Education does has been exploited by a long line of Colorado Republican candidates, including 2022 Senate loser Joe O’Dea.

It’s considered consequence-free red meat to throw to the Republican base, but under scrutiny it’s a terrible idea. The consequences are very real, and not “woke” in any respect.