So when Jimmy Carter established the Dept of Education in 1979, the USA was No. 1 in the world in public education.
The USA is now #31. Even Russia ranks higher.
Now tell me again how the Dept. of Education has improved education in the USA and/or is essential to it? It obviously doesn't educate kids and doesn't seem to be effective in anything else either. So why not close it down? The few useful functions it has can easily be transferred to another government group to administer.
worldpopulationreview.com