The county’s U.S. House representative, Lauren Boebert (R-Silt), last Friday made the argument that the Department of Education should be abolished during a debate about H.R. 5 (118), the Parents Bill of Rights that would codify federal education law to give parents access to school curricula, library books and other teaching materials.
That bill passed the House 213-208 but is expected have a difficult time passing the Democratic-majority Senate. However, Boebert passionately supported an amendment proposed by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) that would eliminate the department entirely. The amendment aimed to “add a sense of congress that the authority of the Department of Education and the secretary of Education to operate or administer any office or program related to elementary or secondary education should be terminated on or before Dec. 31, 2023.”
“Our public schools should have local control, not a centralized federal government pushing curriculum that’s way, way far away from reading, writing and arithmetic,” Boebert said. “One hundred and 61 Republicans voted to get rid of the Department of Education, but we still had 60 Republicans join every Democrat to defeat that amendment. The unfortunate reality is that our federal government is going to continue to have a big say on pushing drag shows, gender ideology, Critical Race Theory and all this other woke BS.”
Boebert isn’t the only political figure openly talking about their hopes to eliminate the Department of Education. According to the Washington Times, former President Donald Trump told reporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that, should he retake the White House in the 2024 election, he plans to shut down the department as part of his education platform.
With the elimination of the federal government’s education department becoming more openly spoken about by both congressional representatives of Mesa County and one of the leading candidates to become the next president of the United States of America, The Daily Sentinel spoke to District 51 Chief Financial Officer Melanie Trujillo about the scope of federal funding the district receives and what would happen if the Department of Education were to cease.
