When Washington, D.C., comes to a standstill, the liberal media rushes to declare disaster. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and her union allies claim that schools will collapse without the Department of Education — and that President Donald Trump is to blame for the shutdown. She’s even said he is “holding the American people hostage.”
But the reality is quite the opposite. The ones holding Americans hostage are the teachers’ unions. They held students’ education hostage during COVID. They hold teachers hostage when they refuse to conform to ideological standards. And they treat parents as obstacles, holding them hostage whenever they speak up.
Despite the government shutdown and widespread furloughs at the Department of Education — where more than half the staff has been let go — schools are still open. Teachers are teaching. Students are learning. Life goes on.
Here’s the truth the media won’t say aloud: the shutdown pulled back the curtain on one of the biggest illusions in America — the necessity of the U.S. Department of Education.
For decades, teachers’ unions and their political allies in Washington have insisted that without federal oversight, education would crumble. They’ve claimed that states couldn’t manage funding, accountability, or innovation without bureaucratic “guidance.”
They were wrong.
Schools continued to function because the real funding — programs like Title I, IDEA, and other major streams — flows through established formulas and long-term appropriations that remain in place even when federal employees are not working. These funds are administered by the states themselves.
The shutdown only halted new rulemaking and paperwork — not the flow of money or the ability of schools to operate. The Department of Education wasn’t “running the system” before this, and the shutdown proved it.
The truth is simple: education in the United States is already managed and funded primarily at the state and local levels. The federal government adds bureaucracy, not value.
There was never a true need for the Department of Education. It was created in 1979 as a political concession — a deal between President Jimmy Carter and teachers’ unions to cement their influence. That influence has only grown.
The unions are not just participants in this system — they are its architects. The Department of Education provides them with power, money, and political cover, and in return, they defend its existence at every opportunity. Each sustains the other. That’s why they work so hard to convince Americans that without Washington, education would collapse — because if the federal government steps aside, their control fades.
The unions have spent decades using the Department as a vehicle for ideological influence — steering curriculum standards, teacher training programs, and accreditation pipelines that often sideline parents and suppress dissenting voices.
Now that the department’s operations have gone dark, panic is setting in. Expect the headlines: “The education system is crumbling without the Department of Education!” But the only thing falling apart is the decades-old narrative that the country can’t educate its children without federal oversight.
In reality, teachers are teaching, students are learning, and parents are reclaiming their voice. The system functions — perhaps even better — without the weight of federal interference.
This shutdown didn’t break American education. It revealed who has been breaking it all along.
The unions can complain all they want. The rest of the country will keep doing the real work.
