Michele Bachmann Suggests Axing The Department Of Education

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), told a forum today that if elected president, she would consider cutting several federal programs and institutions, including the Department of Education -- reiterating a stance she's mentioned before.

Her comment was in response to an inquiry by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) at the Palmetto Freedom Forum in South Carolina Monday. The Republican presidential primary forum focused on immigration, government downsizing and constitutional and social issues.

"The Constitution does not specifically enumerate nor does it give to the federal government the role and duty to superintend over education," Bachmann said. "That historically has been held by the parents and by local communities and by state government. To put that into the federal government as we saw a Department of Education in the late 1970s has eviscerated the constitutional understanding that the control of education truly lies with the parents."

Still, this wasn't the first time Bachmann has noted that she'd put the Education Department on her chopping block. In a speech in Iowa in April, the presidential hopeful fiercely criticized the department, saying that it is one agency "we can live without."

In addition to Bachmann, the candidates who took part were former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and former Godfathers's Pizza CEO Herman Cain.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post incorrectly noted that Texas Governor Rick Perry took part in the forum. While Perry was scheduled to participate, he elected to return to Texas to respond to the wildfires affecting the central part of his state. It also referred to Mitt Romney as the governor of Massachusetts, when he is in fact the former governor.

 

 

Comments

[lobear00]

02:21 AM on 10/30/2011

Michele' you really need the Department of Education your lacking in History and truth telling.

[Ipanemagirl]

09:53 PM on 10/29/2011

She wants to cut public education so children must go to private schools they cannot afford? Or is it so she can indoctrinate the students, teach them only what she wants them to learn, to become looneys like herself, that live in a bygone world, void of intelligence and innovation and science and logic? Its well known that its easier to rule when you have only dumb people who dont question anything....but is that what America wants to become? A backward medieval uneducated country rulled by corporate greed and power ?and a lot of fringe looneys on the side? Ugh!

[janmB]

06:11 PM on 10/09/2011

The USA ranks around 7th in the world on education now.......with Bachmann at the helm we would be in a race for the BOTTOM.

[daveclementsusa]

12:06 AM on 09/17/2011

In other news today, Former GOP front runner Michele Bachmann was asked, "Rep. Bachmann tonite we start off with you, what would like to say to the American people?
Bachmann: 'Well first let me introduce myself, my name is...
Um... aghh... ok... just a... well it's... so that's how It's going to be tonite all the tough questions for me?"

[nicholas421]

02:50 PM on 09/13/2011

Just so people understand, the Dept of Education does not set curricula or educational standards. These are handled by states and local school districts. They are not even involved in accreditation of schools. The DoED's primary purpose is to collect data from schools and enforce federal educational laws (like the No Kids Left Behind Act, how lovely). The budget to do this for 2011 was $71 billion. This is not a drop in the bucket; if this was split among all of the public schools in the US, it would come out to over $700,000 per school per year... can you imagine??
I personally don't care if the DoED is Constitutional. If it was a functional organization that effectively provided added value to our children's educations I would be all for it. But the fact is, it is filled with bureaucracy and waste. If the entire department went on vacation for a month, would anyone notice??

[NioOnMaui]

05:36 AM on 09/11/2011

seriously clueless.

[Tony Rochon]

10:55 PM on 09/10/2011

The Republican Preamble to the Constiturion;
"We the Christians, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, and secure God's blessing of liberty, for ourselves, do ordain ans establish this constituion of the United States of America"

[Klarsonent]

12:56 PM on 09/09/2011

If we allow more of these people to be voted into office, then we have only ourselves to blame.

Dems - get out there and vote for Pres. Obama in 2012. And vote out the incumbent Republican/T-Party people.

[One Fai]

03:18 AM on 09/09/2011

I think Ms Bachmann wants to go back to the good old days where there are only two classes of people: nobles and commoners. Everyone only cares for themselves and no care for others.

[One Fai]

03:11 AM on 09/09/2011

We already lack a standardized education system. That's why some high school graduates can't read while others can go to college with AP credits. Compared to other countries, our quality of education is so bipolar. Local communities and government to manage the education system? What if they just give everyone a 4.0 to please everyone?
Since Ms Bachmann is such a Christian lady, she should just go back to the kitchen.

[MuckyPup]

08:46 PM on 09/08/2011

If knowledge is power, and I believe it is, that would explain why Ms Bachmann would like to cut the federal education department; heaven forbid that we have a smart, independent country with citizens who think for themselves.

It also seems to me that it would benefit this country greatly to have a single education standard across the board. I know that flies in the face of state rights, but where is the benefit to a nation if one group of children get a terrible education because their state doesn't value it? We will all suffer as a result.

[Carl Caroli]

02:41 PM on 09/08/2011

Yes that's it, kids are too smart. Cut that program. In fact abolish the whole public school system so that only the wealthy can afford an education and the rest of the people can become serfs.

[am10]

06:03 PM on 09/08/2011

You're jumping to conclusions. People from both sides have questioned the federal dept. of education's importance. I, like many public school supporters, believe it is a major hindrance to education.

[Carl Caroli]

08:39 AM on 09/09/2011

You need to think more broadly. Without national standards and directives, states would do as they please, which for many is ideal, until they start pushing creationism, or pander to their religious constituents, treat student and teacher LGBTs like pariahs. Or decide not to fund poorer neighbors as well as wealthier ones. We are a nation, not a colloection of independent states, undivided, last I heard, and we need to ensure everyone is treated equally and given the same education, the same accurate facts, not revisionist history like Texas, and are taught to respect and understand everyone in this country, not just their own kind.

[allengoldchain]

12:23 PM on 09/08/2011

Who does the the department of education educate? Each year we are falling in world ratings and they still have a job? Cut them to a small number and let the states manage the education system.

[El Chingaso]

07:17 AM on 09/10/2011

Agree -- totally. Since the U.S. D.O.E. entered the picture, American schools began nose-diving. Achieving "equality" in public schools is some sort of imaginary fallacy that, unfortunately, continues to employ overly-paid federal employees and teacher union fat cats with highly diminishing results. (If the U.S. D.O.E. were a private company, that organization would've gone under a year after initial launch.) In addition, according to D.O.E.'s own statistics, student performance in our country is highly inferior when compared to students in other G-20 countries (yes, U.S. students rank a paltry 26th on math and science alone, and that's just the beginning). But look it up yourself...and not on Google; use a "real" search engine.

At some point, "reality" will come into play...as the whole public education boondoggle collapses on itself. Taxpayers aren't responsible for this mess, but have been fleeced over & over & over again to finance this travesty. Sixty-plus years ago, U.S. public schools were a beacon for the world; having extensively traveled overseas, most G-20 countries are laughing at us now. And that's nothing to be proud of, I assure you...

[Uncle Bill]

12:48 AM on 09/08/2011

Bachmann cannot point to any authorization in the Constitution for any specific executive department- not even the State Department or the Defense Department,  they are created by Congress and administered by the President and his appointees.   It could equally be said that nothing in the Constitution provides for political parties, does Bachmann propose that the federal government refuse to recognize any political party and eliminate partisan ballots, forbidding any ballot from indicating a political party for each candidate and demanding that Presidential candidates cannot pick their running mate from their party but each Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate must be elected separately instead of on a party slate?

[Irv George]

11:23 PM on 09/07/2011

The debate showed us the 2012 GOP ticket.
Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann.

[One Fai]

03:13 AM on 09/09/2011

What a nightmare! The dynamic duo!

[Irv George]

07:24 AM on 09/09/2011

Dropping the Dept of Education is a great idea, it does nothing but stifle educational progress.
American teachers and schools have created the WORLDS biggest failure in the history of mankind.
This is the root cause of nearly every problem facing America and the World. If you don't understand this your teachers didn't either.

[eminencegris]

09:04 PM on 09/09/2011

I have resisted replying to these "interesting" opinions, but this one tears it! The root problems in the education of today's children is often the direct result of the non-involvement of their parents. With few exceptions, the success of children in school is DIRECTLY related to the amount of involvement of their parents in that education. One can only point to the success of many children from Asian families, where the expectations for the children are high, thus eliciting equally high results. Education is a PARTNERSHIP among teachers, parents, and children.

[am10]

01:08 PM on 09/10/2011

I'm for dropping the DOE, but don't think teachers and schools have created this failure. Schools are hindered by the DOE which favors irresponsible parents - and bad parenting has made the schools a failure.