Published at Open the Books Substack

Last week, President Trump signed an executive order directing Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure” of her department and send authority back to the state and local levels.

 

The move sparked a quick uproar for opponents of DOGE and special interest groups.

 

Randi Weingarten, who leads the American Federation for Teachers, is perhaps the best known face of teachers’ unions and heavily engaged in politics. She said she was “spitting mad” over the EO, claimed it would “hurt kids,” and gave Trump a pithy warning: “See you in court.”

 

It’s bound to be a protracted battle as deeply entrenched interests go on the defense and a debate ensues about the proper role of the feds.

 

It begs a couple of important questions: what does the EO explicitly eliminate and what remains? And what has the Department of Education been spending our money to do, if not boost student performance?

 

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