With the triumph of Tea Party candidates and other conservatives in 2010, many in the new Congress are pressing to get the federal government out of education. Eliminating or curtailing federal involvement in education would be a wrong-headed, simplistic move for several reasons: (1) It ignores the nation's history; (2) It would erode the state and local funding base for public schools; (3) It would make it harder for people to go college; (4) It would endanger the national commitment to equity; (5) It would slow momentum for raising achievement to internationally competitive levels. In this paper, the author explores these points in more detail.