re: The Department of Education needs to be burned to the ground..

The reason why useless departments are never shut down is because of future campaign ads. It goes like this:
Congressman Zach proposes a bill to shut down the Dept of Educ.
Next election Zach's Democrat opponent runs a million dollars worth of ads with the theme:

"My opponent, Zach, wants to destroy schools in America. He wants to put our teachers out of work and make children go back to the workhouses and labor in sweatshops starting at age 6. Only your vote for me can save our children."