State Representative Jason Woolford (R-Howell) issued the following statement regarding the Michigan House of Representatives’ passage last week of House Resolution 55, which calls on Congress to abolish the U.S. Department of Education:

“I proudly voted for this resolution within hours of President Trump signing an executive order to close the Department of Education because it is the epitome of the faceless bureaucracy staining our federal government. In addition to overseeing the decline in students’ educational performance in every conceivable, measurable category, the Department of Education is also comprised of distant, remote, and unaccountable bureaucrats who are in no way familiar with the lives of the students they are impacting.

“This distance is exactly why, among the several enumerated powers of the federal government according to the U.S. Constitution, we do not find any authority they have to govern education. We cannot be afraid to champion constitutional government and stand up for the principle of federalism, restoring state control over these policy matters. This is both a pro-constitution, pro-rule of law position and a pro-local control view that will materially benefit Michigan students.”

“Responsibly governing and representing the interests of the American people demands that we shift control away from this faceless bureaucracy and back to the teachers, local officials, and parents who best know the needs in their own communities’ classrooms. This effort to restore authority over public education in the hands of those who are most intimately familiar with the needs and concerns of students will go a long way towards fixing our broken education system.”