Higher learning
Congress must think before closing Department of Education

With a Republican downsizing fever taking hold of Congress, the GOP's next step might be entirely too drastic.

A new initiative proposed by Rep. Steve Gunderson (R-Wis.) introduces legislation to merge the departments of Labor and Education. The effect of that measure would eliminate the Department of Education's cabinet ranking. Eliminating the Education Department reflects the priorities of powerful Republicans -- politicians who are more concerned with a bloated Department of Defense than an educated citizenry.

Congress must realize the need for a standard agency to maintain the integrity of our national education programs. Critics of the Education Department, which has been in existence since 1980, claim that the agency is in a serious state of neglect, and has become largely symbolic. At present, each state controls many factors of its education systems, including the mandate of statewide graduation requirements and curriculum designation.

Yet, the department's primary responsibility is to distribute $30 billion a year in loans and grants. It also sets guidelines, goals and educational policies. Although the department might be flawed, its removal is not the answer.

The monetary advantage of closing the department will be minimal as it amounts to little more than a fly on the back of the federal bureaucracy. Money could better be cut from the defense budget, which continues to be massive -- despite the nation's current peace.

The Department of Education should heed the Republican threat and reorganize itself to become an effective agency. President Clinton should take the time to sort out the problems the agency is having, and modernize it. The department must be maintained as a standard agency to regulate the states' power over education. Discrepancies between different regional school districts will become increasingly stratified without a centralized power.

The Department of Education must also see the GOP's threat as an opportunity to increase its competency. When downsizing federal programs means downgrading educational priorities, the Department of Education must make its way back to the realm of higher learning.