Topic: Ep. 253 – Why Close the Department of Education?
When: Tuesday 4/29/2025 at 2:00 pm ET
From the time the Department of Education was established by President Carter in 1979, critics have worried that “DOEd” was unconstitutional, and that a national education department centralizes control over education in a way our founders did not intend. What is the history of the Department of Education? Is it Constitutional? Where would its programs go if the department is abolished? And does the President have the power to abolish it? Our special guest answers these questions and more on Tuesday, April 29. Join us! Constitutional Chats are hosted by Janine Turner, Cathy Gillespie, student ambassadors, and experts who join us weekly to discuss hot-topic issues! The audience is not on camera, but you may ask questions!
Meet the Guest
Neal McCluskey
Neal McCluskey is the director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom. He is the author of the book The Fractured Schoolhouse: Reexamining Education for a Free, Equal, and Harmonious Society and is coeditor of several volumes, including School Choice Myths: Setting the Record Straight on Education Freedom and Unprofitable Schooling: Examining Causes of, and Fixes for, America’s Broken Ivory Tower. McCluskey also maintains Cato’s Public Schooling Battle Map, an interactive database of values and identity‐
Prior to arriving at Cato, McCluskey was a policy analyst at the Center for Education Reform, taught high-school English, covered municipal government and education as a freelance reporter, and served in the U.S. Army.
McCluskey holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, where he double majored in government and English, has a master’s degree in political science from Rutgers University, Newark, and holds a PhD in public policy from George Mason University.