Washington, D.C. — Public school students and teachers, Pell Grant recipients, and students with disabilities could be at risk if Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Education, is confirmed, new state analyses from the Center for American Progress show. The analyses released today provide specific state-by-state figures that show how these groups would be affected in Florida, New York, California, Colorado, Michigan, North Carolina, Alaska, Maine, Tennessee, and Georgia.
“With Betsy DeVos’ committee vote around the corner, the American people should know the cold, hard truth about how President Trump and Betsy DeVos’ right-wing, out-of-touch education policies would impact their schools, their students, and their communities,” said Ulrich Boser, Senior Fellow at CAP.
As the analyses explain, $20 billion from existing federal education programs—more than half of the U.S. Department of Education’s funding for K-12 education—would be reallocated to a voucher-like school choice system, a plan that would devastate public schools across the country and could potentially siphon off billions of dollars to be redirected to private schools. On the campaign trail, Trump proposed eliminating the Department of Education. This plan would be equally disastrous: It would abolish the jobs of half a million teachers while taking away college funding from 8 million students.
Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, or HELP, Committee, also revealed that she is woefully unfamiliar with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. At her hearing, DeVos expressed uncertainty about whether IDEA is a federal law, despite the fact that it has been on the books since 1975. CAP’s state analyses show how DeVos’ nonanswers about IDEA, which protects the rights of children with disabilities, would leave students with disabilities with tremendous uncertainty.
Click here to read “State Profiles: DeVos and Trump Put Vulnerable Students in Jeopardy.”
For more information or to speak with an expert, contact Allison Preiss at [email protected] or 202.478.6331.