Tipsheet

Patty Murray Is the Latest Democrat to Go to Bat for the Failed Department of Education

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  December 01, 2025 3:00 PM

Democrats are clinging to the Department of Education (DOE) like it's the last lifeboat off the Titanic, despite the fact the DOE has done nothing to improve American schools while presiding over a significant decline in educational standards and outcomes.

The latest Democrat to go to bat for the failed agency is Senator Patty Murray, who attacked President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon for dismantling the DOE.

"The Department of Education exists not only to get federal funding out to our students and schools, but to make sure basic educational guardrails are upheld, our kids' rights in the classroom are protected, our teachers and schools have the data and information and support they need to best serve students," Murray said. 

"Trump has put all that in grave jeopardy. What happens when your school district loses out on funding for the school counselor or math tutor? What happens when they have no one to call when their money doesn't come through? What happens when your second grader with a disability is denied the education they are entitled to but there's no one at the federal level to enforce the law?" Murray said.

"What happens when our teachers are left flying blind because we've gotten rid of the data collection, research, and analysis they need to know what's working and what's not? What happens when you get cheated and left on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars because the people who cracked down on fraudulent colleges and predatory lenders were fired?" Murray asked. 

"We're about to find out. Because while Trump showers new tax breaks at billionaires like himself and Linda McMahon, he is lawlessly breaking the Department of Education," she said.

There's a lot to unpack in Murray's false claims. For starters, the work done by the DOE will be handed to other government agencies, which will handle things at the federal level. As to children's rights in school, especially those with disabilities, this writer is old enough to remember how Murray and her fellow Democrats worked with unions to keep schools closed and deny kids with special needs in-person learning. On top of that, they pushed for mask mandates that delayed speech therapy and the development of many disabled children. This writer's son was in speech therapy until COVID shut down the schools. Fortunately, he'd made great progress and was almost done with speech therapy when COVID hit. She shudders to think what would've happened if he'd been born a little later. He may never have made the progress he did.

What data does the DOE provide that the school district, city, or state couldn't provide to teachers and parents? Why does some nameless, faceless bureaucrat who lives in D.C. need to provide information for a school in rural Montana or Chicago? 

The Treasury will handle finances, and other agencies will enforce compliance of applicable education laws. None of this stuff is being abolished; it's getting dispersed to other agencies.

Bingo. Mississippi managed to improve literacy rates in the state without the help of the DOE.

Test scores have plummeted. Educational standards have been lowered. College freshmen are increasingly requiring remedial math and writing courses because they struggle with college-level work. The DOE hasn't done a lick of good for American students in the four decades its been around.

Because the government does two things well: wasting money and ruining everything it tries to fix.

In Wisconsin, this writer's home state, at least one-third of students can't read on grade level, and Black students in Milwaukee Public Schools test at the bottom nationally in reading and math.

Nothing of value will be lost when the DOE is finally dismantled.