To the editor:
On Nov. 19, 2023 US representative Jack Bergman had an article published in the Detroit News.
The purpose was to inform that he had introduced a bill entitled the EMPOWER act. This bill would eliminate the office of elementary and secondary education within the federal Department of Education.
According to Bergman this is necessary because this K-12 office forces coursework that “prioritizes culture over civics, groupthink over geometry and sexual theory over science” on local districts. He believes teachers are spending too much time “sniffing out students that might be misgendered.“ This is nonsense! Mr. Bergman wants to empower parents to steer education away from the “heavy-handed” federal government. He would gut the DOE and then send the savings to the states in the form of block grants. Typically the feds support local districts and intermediate school districts, (n Michigan) to a level of about 5 to 8% of a district budget. So it’s the doubtful the amount of revenue would be transformative. Block grants by the way could be used to fund curricular policies and actions in states that support book banning — think Florida!
The congressman’s goal is to remove “distant bureaucrats” from funneling districts, funneling dollars to districts. So how “distant” is Mr. Bergman, himself ?
One wonders how many days he has spent in public schools since taking office!?
Gary Davis Suttons Bay
Editor's note: This letter is being published again with corrections.
