The US Department of Education is wasteful and unnecessary. It’s got to go. But I don’t think it has a whole lot to do with the decline in test scores.
I taught for a few years at a private school. Administrators there ran a tight ship. Student misconduct was simply not tolerated. So I could teach without interruption. And yes, test scores there were high.
Then for financial reasons, I moved on to a city public high school. It was often difficult to get full lessons in because student misconduct was tolerated. I had to be a cop as much as a teacher.
Why was student misconduct tolerated there? It was because the school board and the state set lax standards. Education did not come first. Student “rights” came first.
The US Department of Education had little to do with that.
I’m just interested since you have worked at both public and private schools. How do you feel about school choice where local governments will give students vouchers to attend private schools. As you stated public schools do not discipline students. Do you feel this could infiltrate and bring down standards at private schools? Will private schools be forced to accept as full payment what ever the voucher is while students already enrolled will have to pay full price? I have seen disastrous results in private school where this has happened.