Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Dept. of Education Outlays Increased $2 Billion in One Year
In 1980, the Department of Education’s staffing headcount ballooned, and outlays increased by $2 billion – worth $7.5 billion in 2023 dollars – after promising just years before it wouldn’t need any more staff or money.
Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, awarded the Department of Education his Golden Fleece Award for this bureaucratic gluttony.
According to Proxmire, the Department of Education promised that no more staff or additional funds would be necessary in the immediate future. Just a year after its creation in 1979, however, it became clear that the Department of Education was not entirely forthcoming in this assessment.
From 1979 to 1980, the Department's staff increased by 157 people, in addition to the 1,121 personnel it had added the year before. Its budget authority, or the total amount it was authorized to be allocated, increased $1 billion, while its outlays for its programs, or the amount it was sent by the federal government, increased by $2 billion.
This was after countless reports and claims by members of Congress and executive officials that assured Congress the new Department of Education would require no additional people and no new funds.
The department blamed the increased headcount on Congress, who the department claimed insisted on additional employees for its Office of Civil Rights, but Proxmire found the administration had initially made the request for more workers, not Congress.
As for funds, Proxmire found personnel compensation rose 44%, contractual services rose 51%, and capital assets rose 47% over just one year.
The story of the inception of the Department of Education is a cautionary tale in the tendency of bureaucracy to expand, even when it initially has no intention of doing so, and why lawmakers should be skeptical of any new programs or proposals that claim not to need more people or money.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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