Abolishing The Department of Education, Again and Again

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by: Colorado Pols

Rep. Lauren Boebert don’t need no (Department of) Education.

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.

18 thoughts on “Abolishing The Department of Education, Again and Again”

Charles Ashby says:

March 30, 2023 at 12:29 pm

That was reporter Nathan Deal, not Dennis Webb.

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1. Colorado Pols says:
  
  March 30, 2023 at 12:44 pm
  
  Corrected, thank you. We always get thrown off when you are not the author.
  
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  1. Charles Ashby says:
    
    March 31, 2023 at 1:58 pm
    
    Thanks. You corrected the first reference to Webb, but not the second one. Nathan Deal is lol'ing right now.
    
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    1. Colorado Pols says:
      
      March 31, 2023 at 2:01 pm
      
      In a world without copyeditors, we can only be grateful to still be worth laughing at.
      
      Thanks again.
      
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skeptical citizen says:

March 30, 2023 at 12:46 pm

This is pretty crazy coming from a high school dropout…..Who needs education, anyhow?

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1. Washopingmylastpostwouldbemylast says:
  
  March 30, 2023 at 1:18 pm
  
  It is just stunning how well the lack of an education fully prepares someone for an entire lifetime of being on the wrong side of every issue.
  
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2. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  March 30, 2023 at 1:30 pm
  
  She sees herself as living proof that one can succeed in life without high school if one:
  
  1. Has a big enough mouth to get some attention confronting Beto O'Rourke.
  
  2. Can latch on to the MAGA gravy train.
  
  3. Is photogenic, especially on Fox News. (I know, they usually prefer blonds and she is not blond. Maybe this Ruppert's definition of diversity.)
  
  4. Is smart enough to marry a man endowed with enough oil and gas wisdom to earn $500,000 annual consulting contract.
  
  5. Is luck enough to run against a somnambulant opponent in a primary in which few turned out to vote.
  
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  1. joe_burly says:
    
    March 30, 2023 at 1:34 pm
    
    You are drastically over-estimating Jayson Boebert’s oil and gas wisdom. That salary was only offered when his wife was on her way to congress…Edit: changed “underestimating” to “over-estimating”
    
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Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:

March 30, 2023 at 1:25 pm

This is hardly new. Haven't the Republicans been pushing to abolish the Dept. of Ed and the Dept. of Energy since 1981?

But I'm guessing, if you add up the total number of times they have voted on whether to abolish the Dept. of Ed over the past four decades, it is still less than the number of times they voted unsuccessfully to abolish the ACA.

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1. notaskinnycook says:
  
  March 31, 2023 at 10:46 am
  
  They have, indeed, been trying to do away with it since it was broken out of Health, Education and Welfare in 1979.
  
  They didn’t want to kill all of those things, but once it was on its own…
  
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QuBase says:

March 30, 2023 at 1:29 pm

Have y'all seen BoBo's questioning of a witness re: public urination? It's making the rounds today.

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1. Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:
  
  March 30, 2023 at 1:30 pm
  
  Did she whip out the aborted fetus photos?
  
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joe_burly says:

March 30, 2023 at 1:35 pm

The conservative majority of the District 51 Board would be ecstatic to see the Department of Education abolished. They are fast at work trying to abolish all of the public (non-charter) schools in the district.

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Lauren Boebert is a Worthless POS says:

March 30, 2023 at 2:57 pm

The GOP is well on its way to eliminating (public) education altogether between allowing a 12-month hunting season on children for wackos with assault rifles and requiring that curricula teach nothing more than nonsense (e.g., Rosa Parks was forced to give up her seat on the bus but no mention why) which offends no one.

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unnamed says:

March 30, 2023 at 3:09 pm

Stupid people want to get rid of the Dept. of Education. Must be a day that ends in 'y'.

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Gilpin Guy says:

March 30, 2023 at 3:32 pm

Gosh another post on Ms. Bloviate being a butthead. How novel. Haven't seen one of these in oh hours. I wonder if we'll get another one tomorrow?

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1. unnamed says:
  
  March 30, 2023 at 4:00 pm
  
  All to help make up that 546 vote difference in 2022 to see her ouster in 2024
  
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  1. NOV GOP meltdown says:
    
    March 30, 2023 at 4:39 pm
    
    The fetus pictures, the public urination obsession, the "this is not a democracy" screeching, all in just a few days. She's a fountain of mindless ignorant nonsense.
    
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