Freedom & Choice

Here's what the DOE mission statement says at ed.gov:

"Congress established the U.S. Department of Education (ED) on May 4, 1980, in the Department of Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88 of October 1979). Under this law, ED's mission is to:

• Strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal educational opportunity for every individual;
• Supplement and complement the efforts of states, the local school systems, and other instrumentalities of the states, the private sector, public and private nonprofit educational research institutions, community-based organizations, parents, and students to improve the quality of education;
• Encourage the increased involvement of the public, parents, and students in Federal education programs;
• Promote improvements in the quality and usefulness of education through Federally supported research, evaluation, and sharing of information;
• Improve the coordination of Federal education programs;
• Improve the management of Federal education activities; and
• Increase the accountability of Federal education programs to the President, the Congress, and the public.

It means that if a state wants to accept federal money for its public schools, there is a standard for good education attached to that money. Nothing says you must run your schools under federal guidelines. Any state can run non-federally funded schools any damn way they want to, and some do, provided the taxpayers of their state are willing to pay for whatever the hell their particular state defines as a good education. It can be a Christian school, an Atheist school, or any other damn school. 

Trump trying to eliminate federal funding and education standards is a bullshit move. States already have the right to fund and run their schools without federal funding or interference. Many states can't afford to fund education without federal money.

Education is primarily managed at the state level, where states have the authority to shape their education systems. State responsibilities include:

• Curriculum Design: States decide on the subjects and content taught in schools.
• Teacher Qualifications: Each state sets the standards for who can teach in public schools.
• Standardized Testing: States are responsible for implementing and creating standardized tests.
• Funding: States fund a significant portion of public education, including:
  • K-12 schools
  • Community colleges
  • State Universities

The MAGA mafia say's it's about choice. We already have choice. Most parents send their children to their neighborhood public school. But other education options exist, including public charter, magnet, private, parochial and online schools, as well as homeschooling. What exactly do they think the states can offer that isn't offered right now?

I'll tell you what I think they want, and have tried to do in public schools, is to turn them into Christian schools that teach a whitewashed version of our history, and excludes anything the right-wing finds offensive.

So what the hell is the P2025 Crime Family doing by trying to wipe out the ED? They want money to pay for the tax breaks for the rich. Even though the ED is only 4% of the federal budget, they know that many parents are pissed off at the education system in their states, and the local politicians want to blame it on the feds. So everyone is pissed off, and they think blowing up the ED will fix everything; it won't because all the bullshit that bugs you about your schools is at the state and local levels.

Here are some more agencies the Trump Pirates are trying to do away with.

• The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service
• The United States Agency for Global Media
• The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in the Smithsonian Institution
• The Institute of Museum and Library Services
• The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
• The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund
• The Minority Business Development Agency

Again, they are trying to build up a pot of money to give tax breaks to those with extreme wealth and large corporations. And even if they succeed, they are still adding trillions of dollars to our debt that will cripple our economy for decades.

It has nothing to do with good governance. It's just the opposite. They don't give a shit about what happens to people in the states who lose benefits, go hungry, or die from improper healthcare. They are driven by only one thing: greed and becoming even richer than they are today.

Is our education system perfect? Of course not. Neither are you or me, or our children. If you have a problem child, you work to improve the child, you don't lock the away or kill them. The freedoms and choices guaranteed by our Constitution are the children of our democratic approach to government. They need continuous improvement, not elimination.

The fight against this dictator-like approach to government is a fight for freedom and choice in our lives. We want more choices, not fewer choices. We want more diversity, not less. You only have a choice when there are options to choose from. The Trump/MAGA mafia wants to eliminate choices and force you to live by the dictates of extremists like Musk and his cabal of unelected morons.