Closing US Department of Education could help Maine schools

By Paul Stearns

For those folks that are mortified about the possible dissolution of the federal Department of Education please consider these facts and keep an open mind.

The 10th Amendment of The Bill of Rights reserves powers not given to the federal government to the states and the people. Education is a function of the states. Furthermore, Article VIII of The Maine Constitution passes the responsibility of providing for education on to the towns; implying state support with minimal oversight.

The federal Department of Education started up in1980. The programs that many seem to have the most angst about losing began well before that. 

Federal (Title I, II, III, IV, V and VI) funding to support education started in 1965 — 15 years before the Department of Education was even formally around. The incoming secretary of education has assured Congress that federal funding to schools will continue to flow. My guess, and hope, is that it would come to the states with a vastly reduced number of “strings” and the enormous amount of paperwork required. 

Ask yourself this: If your school could receive the same or greater amount of federal Title I funding to be used to support literacy and math for students from lower income families as you see fit locally, would that be better? 

Title IV involves student loans. Over the years that program has been fiddled with often, resulting in a system that provides large amounts of money to students with terms and rules that often make it nearly impossible to pay back. Colleges and universities have eyed this windfall and jacked up tuition and “fees” to incredibly high levels. One answer is to simply pass the loan obligations on to the taxpayers, rather than identify the multitude of flaws and fix the problem.

“Special education” began at the federal level in 1975, five years before the Department of Education. Congress determined that by 1982 the feds would pay each state 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditure to be used for students with special needs. They have never come close. They currently pay around 10 percent and pass the remaining cost onto the states, and, in turn, onto the property taxpayers. 

Maine has added to this expense by creating many laws and rules that go beyond the federal requirements. The last administration that recognized runaway costs in this category was that of Gov. John Baldacci and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron. They attempted to reduce Maine’s special services requirements to the federal level, and were resoundingly beaten back in that attempt. Ask yourself this: If the savings from reducing the federal bureaucracy resulted in the feds coming much closer to the 40 percent, would that be good?

I lived as a school superintendent through No Child Left Behind — a product of the federal Department of Education that crushed Maine educators while lining the pockets of testing companies and many, many others that cashed in, while, ironically, a lot of children were left further behind. 

Our administrative staff spent enormous amounts of time filing the many hundreds of reports required annually. At one point I was required to let the feds know each individual student’s schedule, down to what room they were in every period of the day. 

I understand the trepidation. Change is rough. Title funds, special services and protections are not going anywhere unless Congress says so. Let’s be patient and trust in our members of Congress to make certain that we don’t remove the “good stuff,” much like pruning a tree.

Our towns could then focus on students, teachers, and instruction rather than spending their time checking boxes on federal compliance forms.

Stearns of Guilford is a former school superintendent and a former state lawmaker.