The Department of Education in the Age of “Hamilton”

I wrote this headline back in December, along with the note “federalism” and a link to an editorial criticizing Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos for the position of Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Surprisingly, seven months later, those two breadcrumbs were not enough to lead my brain back to the space it occupied at that particular moment. The “Hamilton” connection I had in mind likely will continue to escape me, but I think the basic point probably went something like this:

For those who prefer a smaller federal government, the Department of Education is a popular target. The basic line of thought seems to be that public education traditionally has been the province of the individual state governments, and that it is ineffective to try to set uniform national policies when it comes to public education. Perhaps as a result of that targeting, or perhaps for independent reasons (and likely a combination of both), those who favor a more expansive federal government also favor a strong Education Department, believing it is the best vehicle for preserving and supporting the public school system and for bringing what they see as outdated education policies (particularly in the area of school curriculum) in line with modern standards.

For the latter group, one problem with consolidating power in a single, central office, of course, is that there may come a time when the person who occupies that office does not share that group’s policy preferences. This somehow seems to be a point of cognitive disconnect for this group, which does not appear to have considered the possibility that a political opponent like DeVos might one day occupy the office of the Secretary of the Department of Education and use the substantial authority attached to that office to advance her own policy preferences.

Politics ultimately may be a game of short-term gains, but the cries of those bemoaning Secretary DeVos’ newfound ability to support a deregulated charter school movement and other school-choice plans because they believe those policies will undercut already-struggling public schools ring at least partially hollow; after all, they bear some responsibility for the expanded scope of her authority to do so.