Wednesday, November 27, 2024

Sid Salter: Eliminating DoE Could Affect State's Education Funding

Regardless of one’s partisan affiliation, Republicans and Democrats alike have to acknowledge that American voters handed former President Donald Trump a decisive victory – winning both the popular and electoral vote, winning every crucial battleground state, his party taking control of the Senate and holding control of the House – and with those wins a mandate for substantive public policy change.

Substantive public policy change is an exercise that produces winners and losers. Explaining that requires a look at the fact that there are so-called “donor” states and so-called “subsidized” states – meaning that some “donor” states pay far more in federal taxes than they receive in federal spending. In contrast “subsidized” states receive more government funds than they pay in federal taxes.

Mississippi is, by definition, a “subsidized” state; therefore, it makes sense that reductions in current federal support to the states will impact state and local programs through program reductions, higher state and local taxes to support the current program, or a combination of both.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said in an August 13 interview with Elon Musk on X (the social media platform formerly known as Twitter): “I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”

In retrospect, that statement roughly mirrors what the current president-elect said eight years ago as a candidate leading up to his first term in the White House. During that first term as president – even with a Republican Congress – Trump did not press that issue. Frankly, Congress had insufficient support to close the federal agency during that first Trump term.

For the president-elect to make good on that pledge to shutter the Department of Education, the full-throated support of both houses of Congress will be necessary. The DoEd was created as a cabinet-level agency by an act of Congress in 1979 during the administration of former President Jimmy Carter.

The agency began operating in 1980 during the final year of the Carter administration, but incoming Republican President Ronald Reagan pledged as a candidate to dismantle the agency. A Democratic House of Representatives intervened. By the end of Reagan’s two terms, he changed his tactics and in 1989 advocated raising the agency’s budget to over $20 billion.

But for Trump, getting Congress to dismantle DoEd may not be as far-fetched a proposition in 2024 as it was during his first term. Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has already rolled out what he’s calling the “Return Education to the States Act” that expressly abolishes the agency.

Despite the Rounds legislation, abolishing a cabinet-level agency would require a 60-vote super-majority of the Senate to be successful. With that effort as a pretext, Trump’s decision to nominate former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) co-founder Linda McMahon as his Secretary of Education presents some interesting potential impacts both for the state’s approximately 490,000 elementary and secondary school students (public and private) and the state’s taxpayers.

The latest numbers available from the National Center for Education Statistics digest for the school year 2020-21 show that U.S. elementary and secondary education revenues from that school year totaled $837.3 billion from federal, state, local and private sources. Federal revenues were $88.4 billion or 10.6%, state revenues were $383.8 billion or 45.8%, and local revenues were $365.1 billion or 43.6% (with $301.5 billion of that segment coming from property taxes). Private sources accounted for $5.4 billion or 0.6 percent of the nation’s education tab.

That same year, Mississippi had total elementary and secondary education revenues of $5.37 billion with $1.03 billion of 19.3% coming from federal revenues, $2.49 billion or 46.4% from state revenues, and $1.84 billion or 34.4% from local revenues.

The federal government pays 8.7 percent more in Mississippi than the national average for K-12 education expenditures, which is $467.81 million.

Despite her past WWE affiliation, sources like The Washington Post praised McMahon’s tenure as head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. So, her nomination is not where the nation’s focus should be. The focus, particularly in states like Mississippi, should be on the future of K-12 education finance and how eliminating DoEd impacts the delivery of those services in our state.

Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sid also backs DEI at MSU

Krusatyr said...

Will Sidney take his loss with a child's portion of crow, per above, or plunge head first into a 5 gallon bucket of rancid buzzard guts to experience the whole baptismal epiphany of humiliation and utter defeat of his lifelong Leftist agenda, in all its putrid viscera?

Anonymous said...

I'd rather eliminate the D of E and forego the money. Our country did just fine before the boondoggle/activitist /woke D of E was formed in 1979.

Anonymous said...

While initially painful, getting off government welfare will make us self-sufficient and stronger on our own in the long term.

Anonymous said...

Multiple studies have established that DEI promotes hostility in our country.
How can anyone support that?

Anonymous said...

Without the DOE, Mississippi students will be taught that the earth is 6000 years old.

Anonymous said...

Big difference last time Sid. In 2017 had leftist Democrats said, hey, he won, let’s work with him, Trump likely would have become just another DC insider elitist. But, on Trump’s inauguration date, Jan 20, 2017, the Jeff Bezos (Washington) Post headline (link below) read “The campaign to impeach President Trump has begun.” Then, for 8-years we watched “want to rule the world leftist Democrats” weaponize the government against a duly elected president, and others that dare disagree with them.

“Mississippi is, by definition, a “subsidized” state” because leftist Democrats wanted the “subsidized” “voting Democrat for the next hundred years (LBJ).” Since Democrats, especially leftist professors know everything and have it down pat, they should encourage the subsidized to move to the Democrat controlled blue states. But you’re not going to do that are you, Sid (won’t work will it?)?

With the last 8-years of totalitarian like leftist Democrat government weaponization very clearly in the rear view mirror, Republicans need to grow a set by cutting, and cutting fast. Musk swiftly took Twitter/X from around 8,000 employees to approximately 1,500, i.e. 18.75%. An 81.25% cut of non-military federal government employees will be a darned good start. The American people dealing with government manufactured inflation, most of which benefited the richest 1%, are sick of watching government bureaucrats screw off for 25 years then retire in their 50’s with fat cat government “subsidized” pensions while the those doing the subsidizing deal with real world financial struggles.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/2017/live-updates/politics/live-coverage-of-trumps-inauguration/the-campaign-to-impeach-president-trump-has-begun/

Anonymous said...

I wanted to abolish the Department of Education until I read Sid Salter’s piece. - No One Ever

Krusatyr said...

Federal bureaucrats have moats, castle walls and razor wire to protect their jobs from budget cutters but now have to reckon with the combined genius of Musk and Ramiswamy who will chainsaw wastrel bureaucracy with gusto as fast as Trump and Congress will permit, and they are slashing and burning for joy, not getting otherwise compensated.

Anonymous said...

@9:18 AM Elon Musk is the type of high-functioning autist who gets off on figuring out solutions to problems people tell him are impossible. NASA could dream but never believed anyone could do what SpaceX is doing. That is because Musk refuses to accept excuses.
I am glad they lost all of the plans and engineering know-how to rebuild the Saturn V. Startship is vastly superior in every conceivable way.

Anonymous said...

Taxpayer money can still be returned to the states for education without a federal Department of Education.

DOE was Jimmah Cahtah's solution to a problem that didn't exist.

Anonymous said...

Krusatyr : The Dept of Education was established in1867. More than a few historians and economists believe public education is what gave us an advantage internationally and it makes us still the richest nation in the world. Indeed, it allows our best and brightest to be identified and encouraged to excel. Without public education, JD Vance would be in the coal mines. He wouldn't have even gotten a job in his town store if he couldn't read and write and do math. And, alas, just as always in history , when the rule of law is controlled by one political entity, there will be no justice or freedoms that aren't granted as "favors". Russia has not been as successful as an oligarchy. Russia GDP declined by 2.1% And, Russia's GDP is about $2 trillion while ours is $25 trillion. But, it looks like we will all get to experience letting media inform us when the new tariffs and trade wars kick inflation and unemployment rises and education declines. The irony will be that MAGA voters will experience the greatest hardships. MAGA politicians will be the greatest beneficiaries but there are very few in MS that will be other than, as usual, taken for granted. Too bad we couldn't believe those who spent their lives studying issues, but rather to the latest " celebrity". And, also believed a woman's greatest value is her "beauty and boobs"...even when both are " store bought".

Anonymous said...

Taxpayer money can still be returned to the states for education without a federal Department of Education.

DOE was Jimmah Cahtah's solution to a problem that didn't exist.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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