Axing the Education Department: Fine for kids, rough on teachers unions

The left is screaming that President Donald Trump’s order Thursday to start dismantling the federal Department of Education spells the end of civilization as we know it — at least.Truth is, it’s a healthy start to improving US education by giving parents, states and local leaders more control over their schools and boosting competition.The DOE has been little more than a gift to teachers unions and the left ever since President Jimmy Carter pushed its creation in a sleazy quid pro quo for the National Education Association’s endorsement in the 1976 presidential race.It was never meant to benefit kids.Nor did it: Not one shred of evidence indicates the agency’s creation has led to greater student achievement.Heck, the fact that American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten has been all over TV screens blasting Trump’s move is irrefutable evidence he’s on the right track.The president acknowledged he can’t unilaterally abolish the department; that requires congressional action.Nor can he scrap programs Congress has mandated.But it’s good to see him starting the process of dismantling this worse-than-useless bureaucracy: DOE head Linda McMahon can now narrow the agency’s jurisdiction, trim its 4,400-strong workforce and work to shift programs to other departments, if she can’t eliminate them altogether.That means no more federal demands for schools to adopt corrosive DEI agendas.No more muscling schools to let boys in girls’ locker rooms or to set up college kangaroo courts to punish males merely accused of sexual misconduct.It’s a historic first step in shrinking the federal government — a badly needed move to save taxpayers money that presidents rarely even consider, let alone act on.Most important, it gets the ball rolling so Congress can help Trump scale back the feds’ role in education and give parents more choice beyond public-school monopolies largely controlled by teachers unions.That means more charter schools, vouchers, h...