[inaudible conversations] hello and welcome to the heritage foundation. Thank you all for joining us today. I just want to take the opportunity remind everyone watching inhouse to silence your cell phones. For anyone who is watching online, youre welcome to submit questions by emailing speaker at heritage. Org. Hosting the program is lindsey burke. She focuses on reducing federal intervention education and empowering families with School Choice. With that, i will hand it over to lindsey. Great, thank you, andrew. Thanks for everyone being here and everyone watching online as well. We are happy to welcome vickie alger to discuss her thorough and newly interested new books in the failures of federal intervention and education and she doesnt miss words at all. The title failure, its time to end and not mend federal intervention and education. Dr. Alger explains in her book federal government left education alone for about a hundred years recognizing that it was purview of states and localities but gradually federal restraints gave away and by 1979 we saw the first cabinetlevel agency for education established , the department of education. And today that agency houses nearly 5,000 employees, manages over 150 federal Education Programs and has a discretionary budget of about 70 billion and i might add its really the tip of the iceberg because we see this relationship with state education agencies as well who have to be responsive to all of the federal mandates and as a result have also increased their staffings over the decades as well. And so, what have we gotten for this federal large as dr. Alger contends, it has not improved education outcome. Its red tape, bureaucracy and wasteful spending. The u. S. Has increasingly centralized education policy during through increase programs and through efforts such as common core. Its interesting to note that other countries, high performing countries have gone other direction and empowering families and fostering competition. So is there a better pass for the u. S. . Can we too embrace decentralization and competition. I will let vickie an those questions. Answer those questions. We do have restore private lending as a major step to reducing federal intervention and in general jest limiting meddling in whats a state and local issue. Dr. Alger is a Research Fellow as independent institute and director of the choice project. Prior to that dr. Alger was a associate director at the Pacific Research institute and director of the goldwater initiative. She received her ph. D in political philosophy from the institute at the university of dallas. Please join me in welcoming dr. Vickie alger. [applause] well, good afternoon. I would like to thank lindsey and andrew for putting this event together. Its such a thrill to be here at the heritage foundation. Thank you all for coming and talking about the very important topic that actually touches every one of our lives and thank you for listening to an opening discussion on my new book about the federal department of education failure. As i was traveling here i recall the words of a former democratic member of congress from illinois who was a former teacher and lawyer about his vision for the department of education. It would be a pure fountain from which a pure stream could be poured upon all the states. We want controlling head by which conflicting systems could be harmonized by which there could be uniformity. I take the high ground that every child is entitled to an education at the hands of somebody and that this ought not to be left to the caprice of individuals. Sound familiar . Well, its probably not who you think. This argument was actually made by representative Samuel Molton of illinois 150 years ago, one year before the u. S. Department of education was originally created back in 1967. As the title of my book suggests, i have a different view about the supposed purity of the dc stream pouring on states like my home state of arizona which is wildly hailed as one of the National Leaders in School Choice. I see we have some arizonans in the audience. Goo, arizona. I was inspire today write this book as we were approaching the 30year history of the u. S. Department of education and i wondered, are we better off because of it, frankly, i dont think we are and based on the increasing calls for the departments avolition this president ial cycle i think its fair to say a lot of us think its time to pull the plug on the department of education. But what does that really mean . If the departments history teaches us anything, its the government bureaucracies are not like fine wine, they dont get better with age. History also teaches us that bureaucracies are resilient. The u. S. Department of education was downgraded defunded and reshuffled from one federal agency for another throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. We decide today keep decide today to keep it around. The result common core. This isnt what we were promised in 1979. One improve student achievement, two not supplement federal government and three improve management and efficiency of federal Education Programs. How did those promises turn out . Lets turn to number one. Improved student achievement. Achievement across subject on the nations report card as well as international tasks have been essentially flat during the periods proceeding the u. S. Department of education and up till today. As far as i can tell from the track record, we are spending above average amounts for squarely average student achievement and spending onethird more than topperforming countries in the world. The department of education was to supplement. Our Founding Fathers never intended for the federal government to be quote, unquote partner with the states and education, much less the boss. In fact, the word education doesnt even appear in our constitution. By going along with this partnership, it has been a bad deal for students, schools and taxpayers. During the no child left behind era, for example, 20022009 the department of education paperwork burden increased by estimated 65 and was larger than the burden imposed by the departments of defense, energy and justice to name a few. In fact, the Administrative Burden is now so great most employees at state Education Departments are hired just to deal with federal Education Programs. Today in the common core era, spending is estimated to be 80 billion according to a former u. S. Department of education official. Thats nearly 20 times the entire 4. 4 billion raised to the top program that was incentivized state reforms and what about number three, a u. S. Department of education was supposed to improve management and efficiency of federal Education Programs. After a full 30 years in operation, the Government Accountability office or gao found that the Education Department was one of dozen or so agencies operating 300 social, Education Programs and that no uniform definition of Education Program even existed at the federal level. The gao also found that within the department of education alone, eight different offices administered over 60 federalteacher quality programs. Well, how are programs like these performing . According to to the office of management and budget omb, just 6 of u. S. Department of Education Programs are deemed effective. But how can that be . From 1980 through 2010, department of Education Program spending increased by more than 57 billion outpacing student enrollment by more than 5 to 1. So after more than three decades with the department of education, the educational performance of American Students has not improved in spite of massive spending increases funneled through this department. The department has not achieved the promise administrative efficiencies, reduced paperwork or better management of federal programs. So its unlikely that more time, more fiddling with the chart or more money through the department is really going to improve education in United States. Its time we reject the common place notion that the federal government has some traditional or historical role in education. On the contrary, such notions have no constitutional basis, even if the u. S. Department of education were getting great results, its time that we also reject half measures such as incentivizing the state to improve within promises of more flexibility. There is no evidence that officials in the federal government including those in the u. S. Department of education know best. Neither for that matter do state officials, the key difference for those of us who believe in constitutional federalism is that state citizens are best situate today hold state lawmakers accountable and enact reforms that actually work. In fact, as we are seeing today, the u. S. Department of education obstacles to effective programs that parents want and children to which children are succeeding. Does this look familiar to anyone . Have anyone gotten any of the letters . Its a letter sent out in late december from the u. S. Department of education to all chief education. I call it a happy new year nasty gram. As a result of parents, godgiving rights to direct upbringing of education of their children they decided to opt out of educational test. The letter sending tips to the state chiefs on how how you can threaten schools and how you can threaten students. Essentially this letter is threatening to withhold our money from our students and our schools unless we tow the line. Theres a word for this kind of relationship and its not partnership. Its time to end federal control through the u. S. Department of education. Now, efforts to abolish the department of education began immediately in 1866 1979 each time efforts failed because either truly sought to abolish the department of education and instead, for example, beginning in 1868 the department was downgraded, changed we called the department, it was reshuffled around until ultimately it was restored, full Cabinet Level Department in 1979. Restoring Constitutional Authority over education requires a genuine abolition plan. History has shown if half measures will not prevent the u. S. Department of education from operating as a costly pass through to the political agendas of washington, d. C. And special Interest Groups, all at the expense of children and taxpayers. That reality is the foundation of any blueprint to abolish the department of education. Now, im a reasonable person, im not going to tell you we need to get rid of all the programs, get them out of dc. I keep three here. The first one would be the Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program as the name suggests, its a dc program, has a constitutional basis but i would have it privately managed. Theres no reason to have a u. S. Department of education involved in the Dc Opportunity Scholarship Program particularly since the efforts of the u. S. Department of education, this is one of the few programs deemed effective by the departments own what works decision, so dc opportunities Scholarship Program stays but privately managed. Number two, post secondary education scholarships for veterans, of course, these scholarships are an earned benefit, not entitlement that should be administered by veterans affairs. Finally, the office of civil rights could be moved to office of justice. However, since there wont be any education plans, any funding it would see to oversee u. S. Department of Education Program would be restored. They wouldnt get it anymore. Now, i wont go through the remaining more than 120 Department Programs administered by the 29 offices and 4600 employees. It simply transfers programs, management and associated funding back to the states. So number one, right off the bat, by getting rid of the fiscal plant and associated personnel, that would be 14. 1 billion that would be returned to tax payers in the form of a tax rebait. Number two, the remaining 216 billion in associated Program Funding along with another estimated 275 million in associated employee salaries would be restored to the states to be administered through state education agencies. Taxpayers in the states would not longer fund this program through the federal government but would instead pay for them in state taxes until the programs preexisting expiration date. Continuation of various programs previously administered by the u. S. Department of education would deem on taxpayers to warrant ongoing funding through the state. But what happens to schools during this transition . This is one of the questions i get most often. Its worth considering that as it stands right now under prevailing relationship from states and federal government, federal funding roughly 1 to 5 years depending on the program and federal fund asking no guarantied to cover 100 of actual costs much less paperwork and overhead burden. Whats more roughly every decade or so a successive administrations assume office in washington, d. C. , students, schools, teachers and taxpayers are subjected to new nationwide education agendas and mandate that is require expensive replacement of the previous administrations program with lines from the current administration. What makes strategic dismantling different is one controlled over Education Programs and funding is returned to the states, lawmakers, taxpayers, parents and educators can work more closely together at the local levels to better ensure clear education policy priorities, customized to meeting specific needs of students in communities across the states without all the chaos caused of the previous several decades of federal leadership and education. Now its the time to End Department of education. There are 61 School Choice programs in 30 states in the district of colombia, there are 26 voucher programs, 26 voucher programs, 21 tax credit Scholarship Programs, nine individual tax credit and deduction programs and there are five educational savings account programs and together these programs are helping more than a Million School children and families. Not to mention the millions more students attending public district, charter, home and online schools all of their parents choice. Dc didnt bill any of those programs, citizens in the states did. More than 30 years after creation of the state department of education students are not better off but we can be. After decades of waiving the constitutional barrier to a federal role in education under the guides of partnering with state governments, it is time to dissolve that partnership and abolish the u. S. Department of education once and for all. Thank you very much. [applause] thank you. Thank you, so much, vickie. What do you say to someone that says, well, the state, they within the doing a great job before intervention, how can we be certain that we are going to see improvements if we hand it back over . This is a critique that you hear frequently. How do you respond to that . I would say thats the number one critique, frankly we have been hearing that since the progressive era. What really runs through the core of our thinking that somehow dc knows best is that we really cant trust the states. What sounds interesting going through the history of what we now have is that early on before the civil war era, there was what i would call constitution constitutional, president s, washington, james madison, poor james madison, he tried more than anybody else, four times the constitutional convention, so many times as he was president , he wanted a federal role in education so badly and he said and so many others said, until we amend the Constitution Congress has no authority. Now, obviously we saw that give way and no longer were we looking at enumerated powers. We were looking at the spending clause. Its in the National Interest for government to be taking the view of education. Thats how they were able to do and run around the constitution. Lack of respect for the constitution really coincides with does disdain and disregard for parents. If you look at the performance of u. S. Department of education, we gave them a fighting chance. More than 30 years. We put the quote, unquote experts in charge. What we have is no better, we are just spending a whole lot more. Thats the best case scenario. I would say we couldnt do any worse and if you look at the scientific findings on the more than 60 Parental Choice programs we are doing a heck of a lot better. Thats what we should be expanding, not dc. After that if we can take audience questions. Absolutely, i think there was, when i think of the National Defense and education act in 1958, defense is clearly in the National Interest. There is a clearly a role. Im reminded of the words of senator from my home state, barry goldwater, who objected to it and i love why he did. He objected first and story most there is no constitutional role. Number two, there were 12 federal mandates. My gosh, by todays standard 12 federal mandates is a rounding error, this argument made by senator goldwater really resonates with me. If the good people of the state of arizona have any funding gaps, we are more than capable of making up for it. And that is what, that is what i ask people, are you willing to make up any funding gaps. Lets be real, there is no such thing as federal tax dollar. They are tax dollars that we send to washington and come back to us. Rather than funneling it through as senator goldwater said, minus the washington brokerage fee, we would be doing much better. Raise your hand if you have a question and wait on the mic. Yes,