Encouraging News - Unanimous Bipartisan Support for Public Education

 

 

Although many have been dismayed by the news coming from the DeVos Department of Education, today some encouraging news gives us reason for hope. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees health, education, and labor spending, rejected President Trump's (and DeVos') K-12 budget request. Budgets submitted by Trump had previously requested cuts in some areas of education spending and increases for new expanded private school choice initiatives. President Trump's overall education spending request included an overall $9.2 billion dollar reduction for the Education Department. And these funds would have been used in dramatically different ways seeking to drain money from maintaining a public education vision to diverting funds to private school choice programming.

 

Instead, the Senate appropriations subcommittee increased most areas and sought to bar the federal Education Department from moving forward with DeVos' priority school choice initiatives. The Senate subcommittee inserted language that specifically directs Betsy DeVos to obtain Congressional approval to use these funds to create a school choice initiative using the Title I funding they proposed. Also encouraging is that the House appropriations panel had similarly rejected a DeVos proposed school choice initiative in their budget bill they approved earlier this year. Let's hope that the House AND the Senate appropriations panels have sent a clear unambiguous message to the White House and the Education Department - that using federal funds to dismantle public education programs while boosting private school choice programming is unacceptable.

 

Programs aimed at teacher training and afterschool and summer programming that are vital to students from disadvantaged backgrounds have been supported by both Senate Democrats and Republicans who sit on the appropriations subcommittee.  That's good news - continued professional development for teachers is important to sustain high quality public education. And sustaining programs for students who need additional support to reach their potential is vital. Both President Trump and DeVos - please take notice.