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After the 2018 presidential election, Newly appointed president Donald J. Trump made Betsy Devos the Secretary of Education. Devos is a businesswoman from Michigan who also sat as the chairwoman for the Republican party of Michigan but hasn’t spent much time prior on the issues of the American education system. On a very basic level, Devos has been vocal about her support for school choice, charter schools, reducing federal obligations in education, and assisting underperforming students and schools, all of which she has addressed in her plan to reform education in the United States of America.

A fact sheet made available by the U.S Department of Education provides a look at the five major areas Devos wants to reform in education. These objectives have been worked in to the presidential FY (fiscal year) budget for 2018. According to Devos, “This budget makes an historic investment in America’s students. President Trump is committed to ensuring the Department focuses on returning decision-making power back to the States, where it belongs, and on giving parents more control over their child’s education.” The proposed budget will allot $59 billion in discretionary funds towards education reform which, according to the U.S Department of Education, is a 13 percent decrease from the 2017 CR level (continuing resolution).

Throughout her 2018 campaign, Devos has expressed the need for more options pertaining to school choice. The FY budget will give $1.4 billion to help expand new public and private school choices for students. According to the U.S Department of Education this would “enable more students and equal opportunity for a great education.” Parts of the plan provide more ample funding, $167 million, to charter schools which aims to increase the amount due to a growing demand. Also, the budget provides $250 million dollars towards lower income families so that parents can send their children to a private school of their choice. $1 billion will go to Title I, a program that helps schools meet academic standards, in order to help students secure FOCUS grants ( Furthering Options for Children to Unlock Success). The department says that this would “provide supplemental awards to school districts that adopt student centered weighted student funding formulas combined with open enrollment systems.

Second in her policy, she attempts to “Maintain Support for the Nation’s Most Vulnerable Students.” Devos believes this will help children who are disabled, who are learning English as a second language, and those in high-poverty schools. The idea is that more Title I grants will be funded in an effort to supply schools with financial assets to give children more rigorous coursework and teaching. The budget would grant $12.7 billion to provide services to disabled students. Lastly, $736 million will go towards the English Language Acquisition program to assist students who are learning English as a second language.

Her budget plan also includes funding for postsecondary education, focusing mostly on the Pell Grant program. A Pell Grant is a federal subsidy that helps students pay for college on a need basis. The FY 2018 budget would expand this grant to year-round funding and simplify loan repayment according to the department. A combined 20 billion would go towards the Pell Grant program and a cancellation from unobligated carryover funding. Devos claims that this will not affect students or the Pell program. As for loan repayments, Devos would like to reduce the repayment plans from five plans to one that she claims would expedite loan repayment for undergrad students.

TRIO and GEAR UP programs will see reduced funding. These programs help low-income students prepare for postsecondary education and also provide services such as childcare so students can complete their education even while raising a family. Devos will give $420 million to historically black colleges and Universities to improve academic programs, the capacity of the institution, and support services. Federal Work-Study programs are also at risk of financial reduction. Devos has labeled it as a “poorly-targeted program”. Funds seen after the reduction will be “given to students who would benefit most”. Work-Study is a need based program that allows students to work and go to school to pay for their education.

Probably the most controversial part of her reform policy is the streamlining of existing programs. Devos has stated that by eliminating aspects like community learning center programs, literacy development grants, and instruction grants would save taxpayers $9 billion. Devos claims that these programs are redundant and ineffective. She also feels as though there is little evidence to support the the effectiveness of these programs. Yet, Devos is allotting millions of dollars towards research into other programs that are already proven to work.

Devos would like to analyze the effectiveness of certain programs in order to replicate them if they are proven to work. Funding will go towards these efforts so that administrators. policymakers, educators, and stakeholders can see what is more statistically fit for the students in their institutions. Over a million dollars will fund programs such as the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED).

However you see Devos, she is the Secretary of Education and it is smart not to turn a blind eye to these policies, especially in the light of legislation such as PA Promise which is aimed at helping public school systems. Many including myself have argued that Devos is hurting rather than helping public school systems by increasing the amount of charter schools and private schools. Free education is available to everyone but even with her bills, there is no indication that the middle class and even a vast majority of the lower-class would be secure in her “school choice” programs.Regardless if we are halfway through 2018, her policy on paper still has plenty of holes and it seems as if Devos can’t fully explain it either as seen here in an interview with Lindsey Stahl of CBS News:

(Courtesy of CNN, YouTube)

By: Xiana Fontno, APSUCF-KU Intern

Source:

https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/budget-factsheet.pdf

https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-budget-prioritizes-students-empowers-parents-saves-taxpayer-dollars

https://www2.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html