Department of Education Responds

--- Original message ---
From: "Freid, Steve"
To: Subject: Response to Inquiry
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:42:15 -0500
Dear Sir:
This is in response to your recent electronic message to the Secretary of Education. In your message, you write that "there is no authorizing language in the Constitution for a federal Department of Education, and thus [the Department] is truly illegal" and should be abolished. You further state that "[e]ducation is truly a local function." Thank you for writing to us.
This Department's web site at http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html contains an overview of the Federal role in education, which recognizes that "[e]ducation is primarily a State and local responsibility in the United States" and that "[i]t is States and communities, as well as public and private organizations of all kinds, that establish and schools and colleges, develop curricula, and determine requirements for enrollment and graduation." Because education is primarily the responsibility of State and local governments, the law establishing the Department of Education generally prohibits the Department from interpreting the laws it administers in a manner that would result in exercising "any direction, supervision, or control" over matters such as curriculum and the program of instruction in public elementary and secondary schools. 20 U.S.C. 3403(b).
The Department's web site also notes that the Department's current mission is to "promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access." The Department carries out this mission in two major ways--by playing "a leadership role in the ongoing national dialogue over how to improve the results of our education system for all students" and by administering Federal education programs. As you suggest in your message, there is no one provision in the Constitution that specifically authorizes the establishment of the Department of Education (or any other Federal Department for that matter). However, the Constitution does give Congress the power to lay and collect taxes and provide for the "general Welfare of the United States" (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1) and "to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution" the other powers enumerated in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18). These provisions of the Constitution are consistent with the creation and role of the Department. I hope that this information is responsive to your concerns. Sincerely, Stephen H. Freid Assistant General Counsel Division of Elementary, Secondary and Adult Education Office of the General Counsel U.S. Department of Education

Greetings Mr. Freid,
Your explanation in the last paragraph of your note is clever but unconvincing. By your logic there is virtually nothing that the federal government cannot engage in. This is in direct conflict with the intent and words of the Founders in the Constitution. If a duty is not specifically authorized in the Constitution then the federal government is prohibited from engaging in that duty short of an actual amendment. That duty is then reserved to the States. Unfortunately the incorrect and expansive power that you cite has been growing exponentially over the last many decades and has led to a huge, bloated and dangerous federal behemoth. If the people cannot enforce the Constitution upon the federal government we are indeed doomed. The authorized powers of the federal government are specific and yes, quite limited. The true power resides with the States, which created the federal government in the first place. Our current federal government rules by fiat and fear, and is quite illegal and unconstitutional in most actions.
God save the people.
Warmest regards,
December 28, 2007