Doomsday at the Federal Department of Education

In Ancient Rome, to enforce discipline among its military, commanders often would order “decimation,” which was the practice of killing one out of every ten soldiers among the ranks. While international laws prevent such barbaric rituals within modern militaries, the phrase “decimate” lives on as it filtered from the original Latin to modern English where Merriam-Webster defines it as “to kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage…” This past week, Education Secretary Linda McMahon decimated her department by announcing the layoffs of roughly half of its very anxious personnel! The move came as little surprise when considering that Project 2025, the MAGA Manifesto from the Heritage Foundation that serves as the blueprint for the Second Trump administration, waxed at length about the desire to eliminate the Federal Department of Education (DOE) so as to “return the power of educating to the states and local communities.” The problem with this position, one that has been repeated ad nauseam by Trump and every single Republican president since Ronald Reagan, is that the governing of education policy ALWAYS has rested with the individual states and local school boards! Sadly, as we exist in the “Disinformation Age,” this simple truth has been lost among...