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For Immediate Release
February 8, 2021
Contact: massie.press@mail.house.gov
(202) 225-3546

Representative Thomas Massie announces that he has introduced H.R. 899, a bill to abolish the federal Department of Education. The bill, which is one sentence long, states, “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2022.”

"Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children’s intellectual and moral development," said Massie. "States and local communities are best positioned to shape curricula that meet the needs of their students. Schools should be accountable. Parents have the right to choose the most appropriate educational opportunity for their children, including home school, public school, or private school."

The Department of Education began operating in 1980. On September 24, 1981, in his Address to the Nation on the Program for Economic Recovery, President Ronald Reagan said, “As a third step, we propose to dismantle two Cabinet Departments, Energy and Education. Both Secretaries are wholly in accord with this. Some of the activities in both of these departments will, of course, be continued either independently or in other areas of government. There's only one way to shrink the size and cost of big government, and that is by eliminating agencies that are not needed and are getting in the way of a solution. Now, we don't need an Energy Department to solve our basic energy problem. As long as we let the forces of the marketplace work without undue interference, the ingenuity of consumers, business, producers, and inventors will do that for us. Similarly, education is the principal responsibility of local school systems, teachers, parents, citizen boards, and State governments. By eliminating the Department of Education less than 2 years after it was created, we cannot only reduce the budget but ensure that local needs and preferences, rather than the wishes of Washington, determine the education of our children.”

Original co-sponsors include Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX).

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