The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is setting its sights on the Education Department as it continues its mission to eliminate wasteful spending among federal agencies.
In a Monday post on X, the organization indicated that it “terminated 89 contracts worth $881mm.” It has also eliminated 29 grants related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training.
Also today, the Department Of Education terminated 89 contracts worth $881mm.
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) February 11, 2025
One contractor was paid $1.5mm to “observe mailing and clerical operations” at a mail center.” https://t.co/VaAw1vNAoa
The cuts primarily target research projects, according to The New York Times.
Most, if not all, of the contract cuts hit the Institute of Education Sciences’s portfolio, including Education Innovation and Research grants and review projects associated with the What Works Clearinghouse, which produces and curates research on best practices in education, according to three people familiar with the department’s contracting. The people requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts.
Less than two weeks after the release of new federal testing data showing reading achievement at historic lows, the cuts were likely to hit research intended to answer questions about some of the biggest problems in American education since the Covid-19 pandemic, such as absenteeism and student behavioral challenges.
Naturally, the move has garnered criticism from those who still believe the Education Department serves a noble purpose.
Dr. Chester E. Finn Jr. told The New York Times that education research “is arguably the oldest and most central function of the federal government in education.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) slammed Elon Musk, who heads up DOGE, saying “An unelected billionaire is now bulldozing the research arm of the Department of Education – taking a wrecking ball to high-quality research and basic data we need to improve our public schools.”
President Trump is expected to issue an executive soon that will gradually bring an end to the Education Department, fulfilling a campaign promise. Linda McMahon, who Trump nominated to lead the department in its final years, will have her Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.
The Education Department was initially created in 1979 ostensibly to improve the quality of education. As with the vast majority of government initiatives, the agency has been an abysmal failure, according to the Heritage Foundation.
All of that has been just since 2000. Over those past two decades, while federal policymakers were busy enacting new federal laws, creating mandates for local school leaders, and increasing the Department of Education’s budget from $38 billion in 2000 (unadjusted for inflation) to roughly $70 billion today, the math and reading performance of American high school students remained completely flat. That is to say, stagnant.
The U.S. is now above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average in reading, but alas, not because U.S. reading performance has improved. Rather, other countries have seen declines in reading achievement, despite increases in education spending.
In mathematics, however, U.S. performance has steadily declined over the past two decades.
The Department of Education is the money laundering wing of the Democratic Party. As Democrats become richer, as unions become more powerful, America’s students fall behind the rest of the world. https://t.co/n6dUNln3PD pic.twitter.com/5qewzzFRoj
— Ian McKelvey (@ian_mckelvey) February 10, 2025
Federal control over education was never going to end well. It has only given the federal department the power to exert its will over state education systems. Over the past decade, it has been used to push far leftist ideology in the classroom instead of focusing on preparing children for adult life. Perhaps it is time to say “goodbye” to this particular agency.
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