10 Federal Programs That Failed Miserably
4. The United States Department of Education
The federal Department of Education began in 1979 after legislation was signed by President Jimmy Carter. It’s mission is: “to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” Detractors have long considered it a payoff to teachers’ unions for their endorsement during Carter’s only successful presidential campaign. It is, by far, the smallest cabinet level department with close to 5,000 employees but it did have a “mandatory spending” budget of nearly $23.5 billion and “discretionary” budget of nearly $70 billion in fiscal 2011. The current,cabinet level department is broken into thirty different offices. More than three decades after its inception, American children have test scores no better than when it began. As every state in the Union has its own Department of Education, this political payoff has long outlived any usefulness it allegedly had. No child has ever been inspired by a bureaucrat who never set foot in a classroom.
