Put Department of Education in Timeout | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary

Put Department of Education in Timeout | Richard W. Rahn | Cato Institute: Commentary: "Suppose Congress said to the department, 'We are going to cut your budget and payroll by 20 percent per year until test scores start improving, and if they have not substantially improved within five years, the department will be dust.' What do you think would happen to test scores?"

"Most of the increase in spending has gone to education bureaucrats — including more and more layers of 'administrators' (assistant principals, deputy assistant principals, and on and on) — and much of it is needless overhead. So, as those in Congress cut back the department's funding, they must be smart about it — both for the sake of the students and for their own political protection. They need to insist that the funds be reduced for the middlemen and not the classroom teachers."