Chapter 11, Part 3: The Department of Education
Day 20 of reading and sharing my notes on Project 2025 (the long title is Mandate for Leadership 2024: The Conservative Promise, in case you're searching for it).
Here's my approach and why I’m doing this.
We're still in Chapter 11: Department of Education by Lindsey M. Burke. I covered her bio earlier, along with my experiences and biases around education. (I skipped several chapters per request. I'll eventually get to everything.)
SUMMARY
This section is on the Office of Federal Student Aid. Burke says, “The next Administration should completely reverse the student loan federalization of 2010 and work with Congress to spin off FSA and it’s student loan obligations to a new government corporation with professional governance and management.”
MY OPINION
I haven’t dealt with the Office of Federal Student Aid in a long time, but when it was privatized, it was a mess. I had to send things registered mail for them to even get read, and I had 25% tacked onto my loan for no reason but that they could. It took about a year to get that reversed. It’s too long a story to tell here.
SUMMARY
Burke continues that loans should be assigned to the Treasury Department.
my opinion
Nowhere does she say why, so it’s hard to have an opinion.
summary
The next section is on the Office for Civil Rights, which she says should be moved to the Department of Justice.
“The OCR at DOJ should be able to enforce only through litigation.”
summary
The next section is “Additional Bureaus and Offices.”
She lists eight positions, among others, that should “have the opportunity to join” other departments once the Department of Education is closed.
On to “Current Laws Relating to the Department of Education That Require Repeal.”
Burke says Congress will have to pass a law “on how to devolve the agency as a stand-alone Cabinet-level department.”
Her policy recommendation is that Congress pass such a law.
my opinion
The likelihood of Congress deciding to “devolve” the Department of Education is slim to none, and that’s not an actual policy recommendation for the executive branch.
summary
The next section is “Current Regulations Promulgated by or Relevant to the Agency That Should Be Rolled Back or Eliminated.”
my opinion
Pay attention to that title because in the section, she says “review.” But “review” here means “roll back” or “eliminate.”
summary
Burke’s priorities for “review” are:
charter school grant program priorities
civil rights data collection
student loans (listed specifically)
Title IX (when ensures federal funds aren’t used for programs that discriminate on the basis of sex; it’s why we have women’s sports)
state grants for children with disabilities
the school meals program
the income-driven student loan program
Biden Administration regulations on “gainful employment, administrative capability, and financial responsibility for institutions that participate in the federal student loans and grants programs”
Title VI (which, according to DOJ, “… prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.”
accreditation of colleges
female athletics
Here are some specific policies:
Less federal restrictions on charter schools
Get rid of “nonbinary” as a sex category under Title IX
Rescind student loan forgiveness
Let Florida have “more flexibility on accreditation” of universities
“define ‘sex’ under Title IX to mean only biological sex recognized at birth; and strengthen protections for faith-based educational institutions, programs, and activities.”
“restore due process” for those accused of sexual misconduct
Burke says schools have prioritized “the pursuit of racial parity in school discipline indicators—such as detentions, suspensions, and expulsions—over student safety” because of federal overreach. She calls “restorative justice” lenient. She wants guidance from the attorney general on this so another administration can’t reverse the policy.
my opinion
Her argument is that the Obama administration was wrong in telling schools to look at the rates that students of color were disciplined compared with white students. She says that students should receive the same punishment, regardless of their color.
In theory, I would agree with her. But she assumes that students who weren’t white were treated fairly. But looking at the stats helps schools see where their biases might be. This started with George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind. That law had a lot of problems, but I had school administrators tell me it did help them see where the gaps were.
So while administering the same punishment for a Black student and a white student might be the right thing to do, if Black students are being punished at, say, four times the number of white students, you need to look at the system.
And restorative justice doesn’t have to—and shouldn’t be—lenient. It involves recognition of what you’ve done and actually making it right instead of just sitting in detention or getting suspended and not really learning anything.
summary
Burke says special education services shouldn’t consider race and ethnicity in placement. She says the Obama administration said African American students were overrepresented in special education. Burke says they are underrepresented “once adequate statistical controls are made,” citing Paul Morgan from Penn State.
Burke says the USDA shouldn’t be able to withhold services from K-12 schools that won’t replace “sex” with “sexual orientation and gender identity.” This is in the section on school lunches, which she calls “some of the most wasteful federal programs in Washington.”
my opinion
You don’t have to talk to very many teachers to find out that federal meal programs are the main places some children get to eat. That’s why so many churches have backpack programs, because kids aren’t getting enough food on the weekends and school vacations.
This is a larger problem, and we need to address food insecurity and poverty in a lot of ways, but I find it weird to call the school lunch program wasteful. It’s literally feeding kids.
summary
Burke wants to get rid of all income-drive repayment of student loans. “The new plan should have an income exemption equal to the poverty line and require payments of 10 percent of income above the exemption.”
my opinion
We could just make college free, and then we wouldn’t have to worry about student loans. I’d rather my tax dollars go for that than for weapons.
summary
Burke wants family structure to be included in student test data.
She says higher education data should be housed in the Department of Labor, where it could evaluate outcomes better. She compares education data to health data and says, “Higher education outcomes data should be similarly ‘risk adjusted’ to more carefully isolate the impact of educational quality versus socioeconomic status and other factors on college outcomes.”
That’s all for today. The next section of this chapter is: “Reform the Negotiated Rulemaking Process at ED.”