Elizabeth Warren calls for billions of new dollars to reform pre-K-12 schools and fight privatization. Here’s how she plans to pay for it.
Warren, who in some recent polls has topped the other 18 candidates running for the Democratic nomination, would steer U.S. education policy away from that of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who have said their priority is expanding alternatives to traditional public schools.
“To keep our traditional public school systems strong, we must resist efforts to divert public funds out of traditional public schools,” Warren said in the plan. She pointed to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated (and which Warren once supported), and to DeVos-backed voucher and tuition tax-credit programs that use public money for private and religious school education.
“We should fight back against the privatization, corporatization, and profiteering in our nation’s schools,” she said in her plan, which was applauded by the leaders of the two major teachers unions.
Warren, who has touted dozens of plans for the country, said she would pay for her education vision with a proposed “wealth tax.” It would levy a 2 percent tax on wealth above $50 million and a 3 percent tax on wealth above $1 billion. Some economists and other Democratic candidates have said the tax would not raise as much as Warren said it would and could not pay for everything she plans.
A representative of the Warren campaign said Sunday that Warren would use the wealth tax to pay for the new pre-K-12 education plan as well as for previously announced initiatives to provide universal child care and early learning opportunities, cancel most student debt and offer free tuition at public CONTINUE READING: Elizabeth Warren calls for billions of new dollars to reform pre-K-12 schools and fight privatization. Here’s how she plans to pay for it. - The Washington Post