Education Secretary Terrel I-I. Bell is one cabinet officer who has taken seriously President Reagan’s request to tighten up the bureaucracy. The Utahn, in Salt Lake City for the wedding of his son, said he has reduced the Education Department staff of 7,000 by about 1,000 and plans further cuts. Bell is committed to shrink the department’s size regardless of whether the President ultimately decides to dismantle it. “The concern of this administration is that there’s been increasing intrusiveness of the federal govemment in governance and control of schools and colleges,” the secretary stated. When the former Utah commissioner of higher education took his cabinet post he agreed to recommend alternatives to the departmental structure. Already he has submitted recommendations but prefers not to discuss them until the president has had time to react. Earlier this month the national press leaked a story that Bell wants to reduce the education department to a “foundation” that would focus on scholarship and research instead of regulations. The Utahn confimied the foundation” proposal is among options submitted. Congress. largely responsible for growth of federal regulations in Bell’s opinion, “needs to be conscious that we have 50 separate state aid provisions for education.” Despite the state aid programs the federal government has added 150 others, Bell said, conceding that some federal statutes conflict with state laws. Thomas Anderson, Bell’s special counsel, is supervising a survey of all regulations for federal education laws with the goal of reducing government’s role in local school operations. Title IX rules on hair length and beards were withdrawn as part of this effort. Such matters are better left to local authorities. In another area, 25 federal elementary and secondary programs have been consolidated into one block grant, and Bell expects to reduce personnel commensurate with reduction in detail. Interestingly, despite the secretary’s obvious willingness to shrink his department, education faired well in the federal budget with only a 3.5 percent cut. ”We’d tried to cut our budget Z5 percent but Congress chose to make the cuts elsewhere.” Education lobbyists are well-organized and effective, Bell indicated. Maybe the retrenchment message needs to be stressed with greater emphasis to that group.