James Earl Carter, Jr., the 39th president of the United States, lives!
President Carter signed into law the U.S. Department of Education in 1979.
Carter’s life is a model of civic and personal responsibility, qualities absent on the bucket lists of many contemporary leaders.
Husband, father, veteran, businessman, Bible school teacher, civic leader, 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner, and volunteer, Carter’s legacy will live on.
Carter’s legacy is threatened. States-rights advocates have their sights on the DOE.
The vested interests of political and corporate leaders singularly aspire to privatize the public schools.
A musky, anti-regulation malodor is wafting under the doors of the DOE. This anti-DOE Inquisition seeks to burn the DOE at the stake.
The Inquisitors allege that the DOE threatens parents’ rights, weakens states-rights, indoctrinates students, and does not teach patriotism.
Forces are moving to de-regulate and privatize federal agencies. Privatization is this century’s gold-rush.
Private schools will feast on filet mignon, public schools will get hamburger and gristle.
Garroting the DOE is the educational equivalent of exorcizing and applying leeches to students with disabilities. Dark Age remedies imagined by darker political agendas.
The stated mission of the DOE “… is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access for students of all ages.”
Equal access!
Eliminating the DOE creates a 50-state system of educational deserts and oases. The student’s birthplace would either become an educational Cape Canaveral or an educational bottle rocket, a successful launch or a fizzle.
Many state legislatures would choose the bottle rocket model.
The DOE protects the rights of disabled students with an Individualized Education Plan. Absent equal access, the states would de-evolve into a 1950’s time-warp of educational segregation with disabled students separate and unequal at the back of the school bus.
Many state legislatures would choose the back-of-the-bus model.
Without the DOE, states lose $119 billion in federal funding. States (taxpayers) would pay for the funding gap. Many state legislatures would choose “clearance-aisle” programs.
The DOE mandates treating disabilities as disabilities.
In our current, anti-Enlightenment age wherein science is distrusted, there are those who believe that some disabled students are faking it, over-indulged, will grow out of it, need a trip to the toolshed, or are not trying.
Many state legislatures would treat disabled students with a “walk-it-off” mentality.
Absent the DOE, states de-evolve into 50 gerrymandered educational systems, each organized around the self-interest of the dominant political party. Richer parents would travel the interstate to an equal access state. Middle-class and poorer families would circle their non-equal access cul-de-sac.
Many state legislatures would gerrymander their students.
Lacking the DOE’s national standards, a student moving from a disability-friendly state to a disability-unfriendly state would lose vital support services, or even all services.
A disabled student would become ineligible for special education services by simply crossing state lines.
Many state legislatures would enact this frugal “geographic cure.”
The DOE mandates that parents receive information regarding the rights of their disabled students. There will be 50 state menus of parent/student rights, a 50-state smorgasbord, a hobo-stew of unprotected rights.
Many state legislatures would serve a “kid’s menu” of rights
If the DOE is eliminated, there would be little space for race, gender, and disability protections in a one-size-fits-all classroom.
Many state legislatures would sign onto slashing protections.
The DOE sets guardrails for equal access. If Americans believe in equal access in education, then the DOE must live!
Mr. Firem lives in Chardon, Ohio. He is retired after a career in education in Ohio, including Geauga County school psychologist and teacher at St. Joseph H.S., Cleveland; Cuyahoga Community College, and St. Paschal Baylon school, Richmond Heights.
First Published November 23, 2024, 5:00 a.m.
