Charter school advocates in two states oppose aspects of Trump 'school choice' proposal
Apects of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposal for a massive $20 billion “school choice” program are running into resistance from an unexpected source: charter school advocates in at least two states.
According to the plan he announced last September, the goal would to allow parents to use federal and state dollars to enroll their children “in the local public, private, charter or magnet school that is best for them.”
The plan would include provide parens with tax-payer supported vouchers that could be used to pay for private school tuition. That has been a central passion of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s multibillionaire nominee to be secretary of education, who will testify before the Senate Health, Labor, Pensions and Education Committee at her confirmation hearing beginning at 2 p.m. PST on Tuesday. She has also been a vigorous supporter of charter schools, and has been a driving force in promoting charter schools in her home state of Michigan. Her husband, Dick DeVos, the son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, even started one, the West Michigan Aviation Academy in Grand Rapids.
But so far, charter school associations in two states — California and Massachusetts — are expressing concerns about different parts of Trump’s school choice plan.
In a letter to California legislators last month, the California Charter School Association came out strongly against any effort by the Trump administration to Charter school advocates in two states oppose aspects of Trump ‘school choice’ proposal | EdSource:
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