When Jimmy Carter pushed for the creation of the federal Department of Education, he tried to make it sound like a move to lift educational standards. Who could be against that?

But in this article from the American Institute for Academic Research, Professor Jay Greene observes that the covert purpose of the department was to succor the teachers’ unions that had done much to get Carter elected. He follows the money, not the rhetoric.

Greene writes:

Looking at the department’s spending priorities confirms how the department was meant to address the material and political concerns of the unions. In its first year, more than half of the department’s budget was designed to pour cash into districts facing a financial pinch from the Baby Bust and local taxpayer revolts.

Also, the department ladles out money for union-boosting programs such as “professional teacher development.”

Greene offers this optimistic forecast:

As the pork-barrel politics of the Department of Education are laid bare, the survival of the department will depend on the continuing political influence of the unions. Unfortunately for the unions, their influence over the Republican party has largely evaporated as they went all-in on backing Democrats. And even among Democrats, their influence will shrink as the new Baby Bust reduces student enrollments and the number of unionized teachers serving that declining pool.”