In 1979, politicians in Washington who were eager to placate special interests cast aside the Constitution and created a federal Department of Education as a political favor to the National Education Association (NEA), the nation’s largest teacher union. While its existence may seem non-controversial today, the department’s creation was incredibly contentious at the time, and even opposed by publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post.They were right to be worried. Since 1965, the federal government has invested over $2 trillion in American education. The payoff? Stagnant test scores, abysmal graduation rates, and piles of debt. Continuing down this path is the definition of insanity, yet that is precisely what the unions and their patrons in Congress continue to push for...
Read the rest of Senator Tob Coburn's splendid article, "Big Government and Teachers Unions are Failing our Children" in the Washington Examiner.
