Tag: vouchers

Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice

Because a democracy needs an educated populance?  Our guess is yes.

The following article by my Emma Brown, Valerie Strauss and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel was posted on the Washington Post website May 17, 2017:

Funding for college work-study programs would be cut in half, public-service loan forgiveness would end and hundreds of millions of dollars that public schools could use for mental health, advanced coursework and other services would vanish under a Trump administration plan to cut $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives, according to budget documents obtained by The Washington Post. Continue reading “Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice”

Taxpayers must not pay for religious education

The following commentary by Steve Kelley was posted on the Star Tribune website April 3, 2017:

Heed James Madison’s warnings on these contentious proposals.

Proposals to have taxpayers pay for religious education are being pushed in Washington and St. Paul. These voucher plans should be resisted. Our opposition should be based on arguments that can ultimately help us overcome our current polarization and recognize that shared American values can guide us.

For more than 200 years, Americans have fought for public schools that uphold the values of religious freedom, equality, and social cohesion. For guidance, we can look back to our beginning. Continue reading “Taxpayers must not pay for religious education”

DeVos Sees Public Education As A Biblical Battlefield

The following article by Cynthia Tucker Haynes was posted on the National Memo website February 11, 2017:

Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) greets Betsy DeVos for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 17. (Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

There’s a reason that Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as the new secretary of education was such a close vote, requiring Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie. Even in the Trump administration, with its clear suspicion of expertise and competence, DeVos stands out as spectacularly ill-suited for her new post.

There was such a public outcry against her that two Republican senators, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski and Maine’s Susan Collins, voted against her confirmation. In this hyperpartisan age, that’s extraordinary. Continue reading “DeVos Sees Public Education As A Biblical Battlefield”

The telling letter Betsy DeVos wrote to clarify her position on U.S. disabilities law

The following article by Valerie Strauss was posted on the Washington Post website January 28, 2017:

Betsy DeVos, the Michigan billionaire President Trump nominated to be education secretary, wrote a letter to a senator about the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. What she said in that letter is very telling about her education priorities.

DeVos wrote the letter to Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, after a Jan. 17 confirmation hearing in which DeVos revealed a lack of understanding of basic education issues, including IDEA. Continue reading “The telling letter Betsy DeVos wrote to clarify her position on U.S. disabilities law”