2016 May 10^th

Cal Thomas writes a column titled “A shadow cabinet for the Trump presidency.” This column makes very little sense. A shadow cabinet in the British system is a cabinet composed by the election losers to monitor the cabinet officers appointed by the winner. If Trump is elected President then any “shadow cabinet” will be put in place by the Democrats; that is obviously not what Thomas is talking about in this piece. Here Thomas is talking about a cabinet composed of Republicans to take issue with the Democratic cabinet officers.

Cal Thomas is ready to eliminate the Department of Education. Thomas tells us that, “…The DOE educates no one and is another of those Washington bureaucracies that thinks it knows better than local districts and parents how best to educate….” How can one columnist produce so much misinformation in so few words?

Thomas has apparently never heard of Pell Grants. These grants, administered by the Department of Education, provide money for poor kids to help pay for college. These are grants, not loans, so they don’t need to be paid back. In the 2013-14 calendar year about one third of all undergraduate students in this country received Pell Grants administered by this do nothing Department of Education.

The DOE also administers the Stafford Loan program. There are two types of Stafford Loans, subsidized and unsubsidized. The subsidized loans have their interest paid for by the government until the student graduates. Once graduated there are ways to reduce the loan balance if the student undertakes certain teaching positions. Thomas apparently knows nothing about Stafford Loans either.

Now, about one of those, “… Washington bureaucracies that thinks it knows better than local districts and parents about how to educate…” What a hoot! In 2005 right here in Republican controlled Michigan, a state law was passed removing the public school starting date from local control and determining that public schools could not begin until after Labor Day. This was to allow students to finish their work for various portions of the tourist industry before the end of the summer tourist season; it had nothing to do with education. Students from other states begin school two to four weeks before Michigan students do. Advanced Placement tests are held at the same time for all students nationally, so Michigan students are behind the others in time to prepare for these tests. It’s not about education; it’s about the money.

If the public schools could start before Labor day they could also manage to save some snow days and still finish at a reasonable time in the spring. Sorry, the tourist industry here is just too important.