Did the shutdown really prove that the Department of Education should be dismantled? Experts say it actually showed how much it’s needed.

Days after U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said the government shutdown proved how unnecessary the Department of Education is, the Trump administration announced plans to transition key department responsibilities to other government agencies — another step closer to eliminating the education department completely.

In an opinion piece for USA Today earlier this week, McMahon said the 43-day shutdown showed “every family how unnecessary” the department is to their children’s education.

“Students kept going to class. Teachers continued to get paid. There were no disruptions in sports seasons or bus routes,” McMahon said. “The shutdown proved an argument that conservatives have been making for 45 years: The U.S. Department of Education is mostly a pass-through for funds that are b