President Donald Trump has reportedly drafted an executive order aimed at “winding down” the US Department of Education with the ultimate goal of abolishing it, but consistent with existing legislation. Which seems like a contradiction.

We have previously written that we disagree with shutting down Ed and instead it should be used to restore patriotism and standards in education across the country. But that ship seems to have sailed.

So: what does it look like?

The draft EO circulating these days outlines a two-part strategy: first, directing the Education Secretary to plan a drastic reduction of the department’s functions, and second, compiling a list of laws that would need to change to fully transfer duties to other agencies and close the department. This seems to implicitly concede that the entire department cannot be shut down by executive power.

It's not just large programs that have been created by Congress, it's also bureaus like the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the Office of Special Education (OSERS), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and more. Most of the department's budget is mandatory programs. Congress has had a field day over the years mandating this or that pet projects. For example, did you know about the $1.2 billion "21st Century Community Learning Centers" initiative? (What's a "community learning center"? And why does the Federal government have to pay for it?)

There seem to be only two strategies available to the President.

Layoffs. Firing an arbitrary (or somewhat arbitrary) number of people in every department would reduce headcount and spending to some extent, which seem to be goals of this Administration. However, it would hardly count as abolishing the Department.

Devolution via non-enforcement. The President could simply refuse to enforce many Ed rules and mandates, and encourage states to take more control of their educational systems. This would be interesting as it would serve perhaps the main object of Ed abolition as considered by traditional conservatives, which is to give states more leeway to experiment with educational ideas and projects.

Policy News You Need To Know

#Immigration — Interesting, thorough article in the NYT about the Administration's difficulty in meeting President Trump's ambitious targets for deportations. There appear to be multiple bottlenecks, including due process (ICE cannot enter people's homes uninvited) and the ability to ship migrants back to their countries. Hopefully these will be worked out over time.

#Reconciliation — New CBO report says Republicans cannot accomplish their $1.5 trillion cuts goals without cutting Medicaid, Medicare, or CHIP. WaPo has more.

#Budget — The great Jim Capretta has an article at Law & Liberty arguing (in essence) against the DOGE approach of trying to make lots of tiny inefficiency cuts. Instead, the right way to get spending under control is to revise the budget process to help prioritize better.

#Ed — Very good observation from Scott Yenor: grade inflation "is a national scandal". There is a collective action problem: if one university bucks the trend, it finds itself at a competitive disadvantage relative to its peers. "Princeton put a cap on the number of A’s that could be earned in each class. As a result, Princeton undergraduates generally had lower GPAs than undergraduates at other Ivies. This was deemed unacceptable, since students were thought to be less competitive for graduate school, law school, or high-end jobs. Princeton abandoned its experiment." What is there to be done? Yenor recommends a national study. This may not sound like much but it would at least enable some objective tracking of the phenomenon which would then make it easier to make the case for doing something.

#Forestry — The Senate is holding hearings on forestry, which is actually an important topic as, as we've seen tragically in California (and President Trump, believe it or not, accurately diagnosed years ago on the public record), poorly-managed forests can lead to massive fires. Writes the Bipartisan Policy Center, whose work we always enjoy: "Our nation’s forests are overgrown, fire-prone, and need active management. We’ve identified policies that can help through our Farm and Forest Task Force." More here.

#Debt — The Republicans on the House Budget Committee have produced an op-ed on "the consequences of debt." Worth reminding ourselves.

#TaxOnTips — Interesting, from R Street's C. Jarrett Dieterle: "Instead of hiking the minimum wage, we should offer portable benefits to US restaurant workers and make it easier for entrepreneurs to open new restaurants."

#Life — President Trump's order on IVF has grated many social conservatives. It's also vague, so it's unclear what actions (if any!) it will actually lead to. The Dispatch has an overview.