When President Trump’s budget request for fiscal year 2020 was released, many advocates of school choice were thrilled to see the cuts recommended for the Department of Education, to the tune of $7.1 billion. For those who believe that the federal government has no place in determining education policy, a $64 billion budget for the Department of Education is certainly preferable to a $71 billion budget.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to cosponsor legislation to terminate the Department of Education, H.R. 899. Introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), this bill would do one simple thing -- hand matters of education back to those with whom they belong: state and local communities.

“And at the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.” This is music to the ears of advocates for federalism, school choice, and, frankly, for student success everywhere. These words came directly from U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos last week at a conference in DC titled “Bush-Obama School Reform: Lessons Learned,” held by the free-enterprise think tank American Enterprise Institute.

We are proud to award Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-Ky.) bill to abolish the Department of Education, H.R. 899, as FreedomWorks’ Bill of the Month for March. His bill, only a sentence long in length, reads, “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”

The House and Senate are in session this week

The House and Senate are in session this week