Under Trump proposal, student loan forgiveness and Special Olympics
would get axed to fund private schools.
This from AlterNet by way of Salon:President Trump is proposing a massive change in the federal government’s role in education: the diversion of $10 billion from a host of student-friendly programs into federal programs to expand corporate charter schools and vouchers for private schools. As the Washington Post reports:“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.”The budget proposal calls for a net $9.2 billion cut to department spending, or 13.6 percent of the spending level Congress approved last month. It is likely to meet resistance on Capitol Hill because of strong constituencies seeking to protect current funding, ideological opposition to vouchers and criticism of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor, became a household name during a bruising Senate confirmation battle. With no experience in teaching or school administration, she has had a rocky start to her first government job.VideoWhat’s in Trump’s proposed education budget
In January, she was chased away from the first public school in Washington, D.C., that she visited (as seen in the photo above).
Last week she was booed by graduating students while giving a commencement address at Bethune-Cookman University.
DeVos’ Priorities
The Trump budget proposal calls for the creation of a new $1 billion federal grant program under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary School Act (or ESSA, which has been rebranded as the Every Student Succeeds Act), which will allow students to take federal, state and local dollars to their public school of choice. That money would be added to the $15.9 billion that the Title I program will receive under the 2017 budget. Current funding is not “portable” to public schools of choice, according to Education Week.
This post first appeared on Kentucky School News And Commentary, please read the originial post: here