Chaffetz on co-sponsoring bill: ‘We simply don’t need the Department of Education’

In this 2008 file photo, Rep. Jason Chaffetz addresses the Center for the Study of Ethics during a debate at Utah Valley University, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 1, 2008 | Photo courtesy of Don LaVange, St. George News

SALT LAKE CITY — Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, defended Wednesday co-sponsoring a bill that seeks to do away with the U.S. Department of Education.

HR 899 was introduced Tuesday by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and is composed of just one line: “The Department of Education shall terminate on December 31, 2018.”

Chaffetz co-sponsored the bill along with six other representatives.

Chaffetz defended his position Wednesday, saying that states should decide how public schools are taught.

“We simply don’t need the Department of Education,” he said in an interview with KSL. “We in Utah, we know how to educate our kids. We don’t need some bureaucrat in Washington, D.C. to tell us how to do it. I think if you want to have the best governance, the best programs for our kids, keep that money and that administration as close to the people as you can.”

Read the full story here:  KSL News

Written by CARTER WILLIAMS, KSL News.com.

Contributing: Jed Boal, Brianna Bodily

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @STGnews

Copyright 2017 KSL.com

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11 Comments

  • Not_So_Much February 9, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    Sounds good to me.

  • dhamilton2002 February 9, 2017 at 9:57 pm

    I am truly embarrassed to say that this may represents Utah. What a total uninformed human.

    • Brian February 10, 2017 at 10:40 am

      One of you is uninformed, certainly.

      The Constitution provides a list of “enumerated powers” that the federal government is responsible for. EVERYTHING else is the responsibility and right of the states. The Founding Fathers deliberately wanted as much power as possible to remain close to the people. What we have now is exactly what they didn’t want and fought so hard to avoid, and for good reason.

      Quite simply education should be handled at the state level, not the federal level. Zero tax dollars should go to the federal level for education. Zero federal bureaucracy, zero federal control.

      The department of education is and always has been unconstitutional and should be abolished. It’s a huge, expensive, manipulated (and manipulative), self-serving steaming pile of excrement.

  • 556poor February 9, 2017 at 10:31 pm

    Fully support rep chaffetz’s bill education should be controlled on a state level.

  • Badshitzoo February 10, 2017 at 2:12 am

    Between Hatch, Love, and Chaffetz, it would seem Utah has every “Tool” in the box.

  • desertgirl February 10, 2017 at 11:13 am

    Since President Carter signed into law the Department of Education, the United States has consistently fallen behind in standards, the ability of our children to pass grades and keep up with the rest of the civilized world. The result has been to lower expectations of students and teachers. Bottom line: the Dept. of Education has been abject failure. Sadly, the Democratic party and leftists want to continue investing federal taxpayer money into this cesspool of politics and corrupt, self-serving teacher unions.

  • wilbur February 10, 2017 at 12:15 pm

    DOE takes our federal tax money, doles it back to the states, with it’s cut for inside-the beltway fatted bureaucrats.

    Waste on money.

    Keep it at home.

  • McMurphy February 10, 2017 at 2:37 pm

    What exactly has the Dept accomplished that would justify its existence? No one seems to be satisfied with the current state of public education in the US. All the Dept does is take money from taxpayers, skim some off the top to pay the bureaucrats, and send the rest back to the states with no discernible value added.

  • Thecadean February 12, 2017 at 9:30 pm

    I see the reason why people are favoring a state system. But without national standards we will be moving fastest to a nation divided. And sorry to say Utah isn’t really leading the nation in education at the elementary and high school levels. It’s very transparent what the real intent is: religion. Religion was originally removed from the schools in an effort to remove catholicism from those “evil” Irish immigrants. Now the leaders have this notions it’s time to re-program american youth with religion. What religion? whos God.. My small town has 3 lutheran churches and they can’t get along. Many wars have been fought over for less. Do we really wish to go down this path? Just one more reason I truly believe the US is on the path to a possible multi civil war. It can happen- the very prosperous East and West Coast leave the wasting middle behind. As technology and alternative energies rapidly replace fossil fuels the re-education of the middle america will grow ever more important. Time will tell- Canada nearly divided in 2 parts just a few years back, the vote was only off by 1%.

  • Thecadean February 12, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    Go Utah .. #42 in the Nation! sounds like they better clean up house before tearing downs everybody’s in the nation.
    http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/news/53279780-78/education-utah-percent-report.html.csp

  • dodgers March 1, 2017 at 8:22 pm

    Chaffetz is 100% correct. We don’t need the extra federal level and expense. Let states decide and manage education.

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