As the U.S. Department of Education edges closer to being consigned to history’s dustbin, teachers’ union spokesperson Randi Weingarten seems ever closer to, as the Brits put it, completely losing her composure. If she ever had any, that is.
Weingarten’s stock is on the decline with President Trump’s pending decision to abolish the Education Department. The Education Department was only created as a thank-you from Jimmy Carter to teachers’ unions who helped him get elected. Its responsibilities, budgets, and decision-making will be returned to local and state authorities. On Thursday, the president will sign an executive directive (EO), followed by a discussion with educators and governors about the changes to come to public education.
We don’t know the exact details about the dismantling, but it doesn’t stop Weingarten from appearing on CNN to spread a series of lies in order to scare the viewers. She is shown in her full glory.
What? She says that most public school students in the United States are poor, disabled, or rural. This is absurd. Randi is a self-proclaimed educator, but she doesn’t seem to be good with numbers. Let’s look at the data from NCES, which tracks this kind of thing.
According to NCES, approximately 15 percent of public school students receive special education services. Meanwhile, 19 percent of rural students attend schools. Randi’s “most” is likely an exaggeration. There’s a lot of overlap between the two populations.
The number of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches in school determines their “poor” status. This number is high, around 50% of students. But Randi does not tell you that the U.S. Department of Agriculture funds the program, and Brooke Rollins is in charge of it. The children will not starve.
Numbers don’t matter, since the funding won’t be taken away from these students. But the power of Randi Weingarten, and the teacher’s unions, who kept our children out of school for COVID, and promoted radical ideologies rather than teaching the basics, will be severely diminished.
Randi Weingarten and your unions will see their stranglehold over the public education system at the federal level reduced by 100%.
The left was mostly right in their belief that they had control over everything. From your children’s minds to the corridors of power in Washington, they thought they did. The federal government is being recalibrated by the DOGE and President Obama. This has caused rapid and beautiful changes. The left can only watch and sulk as they see it.
As a mom, whose son is autistic, and was not long ago one of the 15% of students who received special education services, I can testify that the removal of the federal government from the process of getting your child educated will only benefit parents trapped in this never-ending cycle. The Trump administration’s move is a subtraction by addition for many American families.
