Educators Brace for Trump
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on what Trump has in mind for eduction. In fact, Donald Trump has promised an education bill in the first 100 days.
He has indicated he will spend $20 billion on school choice during the campaign. He’ll probably block grant that money from Title I and other important locations. The Democrats for Education Reform (DFERs), Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO), the Education Post and the education “reformers” in general must be really, really happy right now. Maybe even BAEO’s Howard Fuller– although I haven’t asked him, he blocked me on Twitter after this. Here’s what Tawnell D. Hobbs Tawnell.Hobbs@wsj.com had to say in the Wall Street Journal.
Educators are bracing for a big boost to school-choice programs under President-elect Donald Trump, but he has been silent on some other major topics affecting the nation’s public-school students.Mr. Trump has said that he would pump billions into “school choice,” including backing voucher programs, which are popular with many parents but often opposed by public-school districts. And as the nation’s new education law is set to be fully implemented next school year, some educators are wondering if it will be derailed.“His education platform has been so in the background, we really don’t know where he stands,” said John Yun, associate professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University.Mr. Trump hasn’t provided an overarching plan for education. But he has said that he would reprioritize federal dollars to provide an additional $20 billion for “school choice” to give families more educational options. School choice entails using public-school dollars for alternatives to traditional public schools, such as for charter schools, private schools and online campuses.“As your President, I will be the nation’s biggest cheerleader for school choice,” Mr. Trump said in September when he announced his school-choice plan. “I want every single inner-city child in America who is today trapped in a failing school to have the freedom—the civil right—to attend the school of their choice.”Under his plan, states would have the option to allow the funding to follow students to private or public schools, in what some educators call a voucher system. Distribution of the funds would favor states that have private-school choice, magnet schools and charter laws.Charter-school proponents are enthusiastic about the shift, but teacher’s unions are skeptical.“We’re thrilled,” said Christine Isett, a spokeswoman at the Texas Charter Schools Association. “How he divvies the money amongst the different groups remains to be seen. We’re anxiously waiting.”
To read the entire article please visit the Wall Street Journal and read the article here (I don’t want to steal their content). My thought in the article:
The presidential candidates didn’t say much during the campaign season on the nation’s new education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. The law is expected to give states more local control over academic standards. It is unclear where Mr. Trump stands on the law and his campaign couldn’t be reached for comment.“There’s no reason why Donald Trump couldn’t rethink the whole law right away,” said Julian Vasquez Heilig, director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership program at California State University, Sacramento.
Will Donald Trump actually going to DC and blow everything up? Will he actually even live in DC?
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