Margaret Spellings
Appearances
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
The Department of Education was founded because we have a shared American belief that education is a great equalizer and too often kids their futures were determined by their zip code or a lack of resources and so we thought and I think most still do think that it's a national imperative that we level that playing field and through various programs in K-12 and in higher ed work to provide opportunity for all students.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
Well, I guess it's theoretically doable. I guess things, it makes me want to ask questions like, does that mean then that local school districts and universities and colleges are going to have to interface with a multitude of agencies, whether it's HHS or the Homeland Security or the Department of Justice or the Department of the Treasury and on and on and on.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
And I wonder, is that a more efficient way to run things than currently? I mean, what is the problem we're trying to solve?
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
And to the extent that people are frustrated with the lack of student achievement that we've seen, particularly post-COVID, and what folks perceive as indoctrination or a woke agenda coming from school districts, then they should take those issues to their local school boards and to their state legislatures because there are express prohibitions against that from the federal department.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
Well, you're right. I mean, it's been sort of standard Republican orthodoxy, except for my former boss, George W. Bush. And, you know, is it right for us to calibrate the right role between the feds, the states and the locals? You bet. And we've been doing that over the many decades.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
from very minuscule to more muscular as we've had in the time with more accountability and more attention around student achievement.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
And that's the other thing that I worry about getting lost on the cutting room floor is transparency around the quality of education for all kids and the accountability muscle that we have through the National Education Report card and requirements for assessment and reading and math in a disaggregated way.
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
I believe it hurts. And, you know, John just mentioned the data. That data is particularly troubling for low-income and special needs students who really have not recovered at all from COVID. Our absenteeism across this country is just shocking and abhorrent. And so, you know, we're taking our eye off the ball when we talk about kind of the administrative challenges
Consider This from NPR
What happens if the Education Department is abolished?
niceties of programs, programs that are pretty direct to school districts and to states, and frankly, you know, are block grants that work pretty efficiently while, you know, Rome is burning and we ought to be talking about the future workforce of our country.