Rand Paul on the Dept. of Education: “I Don’t Think You’d Notice If The Whole Department Was Gone Tomorrow”

The junior Senator from Kentucky sat down for an interview with former Obama advisor David Axelrod and said the U.S. Department of Education sends “rules down that don’t help education; they hinder innovation.”

“I would cut them out of the loop,” Paul said. “I don’t think you’d notice if the whole department was gone tomorrow.”

Rand Paul also talked about how the national Republican Party needs to take up the issue of school choice and bring a message of educational opportunity and choice straight to minority voters. “If people say, ‘We’re going to go out and get the African-American vote,’ that’s all good and well, but you also have to have something to say,” Paul said. “We have to figure out as Republicans how to get our message to the people who favor charter schools and favor choice in schools, and say, look, we do care about your kids.”

Recently, the Department of Justice sued Louisiana’s Scholarship Program on the grounds that vouchers “impede desegregation,” even though the majority of kids who receive vouchers are minority students. But a new survey says that more than 90 percent of parents whose children receive school vouchers via Louisiana’s Scholarship Program are happy with the program. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s decision to deny space to Harlem-based Success Academy Charter Schools hurt his poll numbers. And once again, the people sided with charter schools. 40 percent of New York City voters said De Blasio should expand the number of charter schools, while just 14 percent said he should decrease the number.

Senator Rand Paul, a possible 2016 presidential contender, is right to push his party to take up the mantel and make school choice a primary political issue going forward.