Dept of Education

Will the Dept of Education ever reopen once the government shut down ends ?

Trump has said he wants to end it (along with many other agencies he considers "Democrat"). Whether he legally can, or will even try, is as hard to tell as is any of his random "destroy this or that" bleatings.

And of course, he won't be around forever, so even a destroyed DOE can be reinstated.

I would think most teachers would like more local control, and less mandates from Washington.  It would seem from test scores that what is being done now is not working and to just say they need more money is never a good answer.  What have the last 3 presidents done wrong in this arena

But "local control" means that schools can be more ideological AND more discriminatory. And yes, ideological could mean filthy woke liberalism, religious fervor, or MAGA madness. Discriminatory could mean racial, gender, national origin, or means and circumstances.

You see, the original impetus behind the formation of the DOE was the horrible disparities in educational quality, levels, and outcomes among the regions of the country--much, much, much worse than what you are observing and decrying now. The only way to ensure that some kid in rural Arkie-saw got an education that was as least a semblance of the one that a middle-class kid in, say, Minnesota received was to set national standards and mandate oversight.

As to what the last three Presidents have done--Dubya wasn't exactly educated himself, and did basically nothing. Obama accomplished quite a bit but had many of his programs blocked by hostile Republicans. And Trump, of course, loves the uneducated and is openly hostile to education at all levels.

Your experiences may be different from mine, but in my career, every time I've seen "local control" of education, the effect is that of someone grabbing the wheel of the schoolbus and steering it off a cliff. You have policies that are more often than not the result of a couple of loudmouth parents standing up at school board meetings and shouting. I think, in fact, that there should be far more federal (and state) and far less local control of education --the analogy I would make is of federal standards for highways, medicine, food safety, etc. as those things should NOT be left up to the locals. I think it's important that little Johnny grows up to be a good, productive citizen rather than the moral and practical liability of a drooling MAGA.

Some states have good public education.  Some dont.   I would think everyone wants all states to have good public education.   The George Wallace crowd disagrees. 

Ironically,  It really hurts MAGA states more so than blue....kinda like cuts to green energy...and the China trade war...and the Canadian name calling.   But, hey, thats what they voted for.

Yeah, but the maleducated drooling goobers that are spawned in MAGA states vote in Presidential elections--which at this stage, puts the overall survival of the nation at 50/50 at best. So crap red state public education hurts blue states just as much. Our nation would be a paradise on earth if it wasn't for Republicans/conservatism.

Which is why I still advocate for not allowing people to vote unless and until they can pass the equivalent of a high school civics class final exam. That would weed out the goobers and instantly reduce the voting power of the red states by 75%.