Legislation Targets Union Officials’ Control Over Education
In early 2025, the second Trump Administration began downsizing the U.S. Department of Education (DoED), a federal bureaucracy first established in 1979 at National Education Association (NEA) teacher union bosses’ behest.
Big Labor has fiercely opposed this move with angry protests and lawfare. For the better part of a year, union spokespersons claimed eliminating or even substantially reducing the size of the DoED would have a catastrophic impact on education throughout America.
And then suddenly, on October 1, the federal government shut down due to the impasse in Congress over the FY 2026 budget. As a consequence, virtually all of the DoED employees who hadn’t already been let go in the downsizing were furloughed.
They stayed furloughed for more than six weeks. And no catastrophe whatsoever ensued.
DoED Affords Teacher Union Bosses ‘Power, Money, and Political Protection’
The fact is, only some of the trillion dollars that goes into K-12 government schools each year comes from federal taxpayers.
Moreover, most federal funds for K-12 schools continue flowing in accord with established formulas even when the U.S. government is shut down.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean DoED bureaucrats are harmless. For decades, they have expertly wielded federal purse strings to bully state and local education officials into running schools as the Beltway wishes. And, at least until very recently, permanent DoED bureaucrats in Democrat and Republican administrations alike have been all too eager to help teacher union bosses impose their agenda on states and localities nationwide.
As Ryan Walters, the CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, correctly observed in an October 31 commentary for Fox News, the DoED affords government union bigwigs “power, money, and political protection . . . .” National Right to Work Committee Vice President Greg Mourad explained:
“Using the carrot of additional federal funding, Big Labor-allied DoED bureaucrats have swayed state and local school officials again and again to pad the payrolls of ineffective government schools with more unionized employees, instead of trying to offer parents and kids better options.
“That’s why the Trump Administration’s downsizing of the DoED — and its support for this counterproductive bureaucracy’s complete elimination — are both commendable.”
State-Level Promotion of Union Monopoly Bargaining Is the Core Problem
“Of course,” added Mr. Mourad, “even if the DoED is shuttered, public education in the U.S. will continue to be in deep trouble as long as the vast majority of states continue to authorize and promote union monopoly-bargaining control over how teachers and other K-12 employees are compensated and managed.
“State monopoly-bargaining laws, commonly referred to as ‘exclusive representation,’ effectively grant Big Labor the legal power to prevent K-12 school districts from rewarding educators according to their individual talents, efforts and achievements.
“Such laws, along with the inordinate political clout teacher union officials derive from them, make it extremely difficult to terminate abusive and/or negligent teachers.
“Repeal at the state level of monopoly bargaining laws is ultimately what is needed, but the DoED downsizing is definitely a good step.
“Without Washington bureaucrats running interference for them, teacher union officials would have substantially less control over public education than they do today.
“And now that ordinary Americans have had the opportunity to see for themselves, as a consequence of the recent federal shutdown, that there is no apparent reason for them to continue forking over billions of tax dollars to keep the DoED running, the prospects for complete abolition are rising.
“In October, DoED Sec. Linda McMahon reaffirmed that this is the White House’s goal on X [formerly Twitter].
“The shutdown, she wrote, ‘confirms what the President has said: the federal Department of Education is unnecessary, and we should return education to the states.’”
With that goal in mind, the Right to Work legislative department has been lobbying every U.S. House member to support H.R.2694, legislation sponsored by Congressman Barry Moore (R-Ala.).
This bill would abolish the DoED and provide federal funding directly to states for elementary and secondary education.
“For nearly half a century, the DoED has served no purpose other than to give teacher union bosses a bigger place at the federal trough. It’s time to shut it down,” concluded Mr. Mourad.
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