Northern Kentucky republican Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduced a bill that would abolish the federal Department of Education.
The bill, H.R. 899, is one sentence long and is as follows: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2026.”
“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development,” said Massie in a press release. “States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school.”
Last week, dozens of employees at the U.S. Department of Education were put on paid administrative leave in response to President Donald Trump’s order banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government, according to a labor union that represents hundreds of workers in the agency, as reported by the Associated Press.
It’s unclear how many workers were put on leave or for what reasons, said Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. The majority of employees placed on leave do not work in DEI initiatives and span all branches of the agency, she said, from an office that sends billions of dollars to K-12 schools to an investigative office that enforces civil rights laws.
At least 55 Department of Education workers received an email Friday saying they were being put on paid leave effective immediately pursuant to Trump’s executive order. It wasn’t being done for “any disciplinary purpose,” according to a copy of the email obtained by The Associated Press.