The Washington Post has some of the details of the DeVos-Trump budget for the U.S. Department of Education. It is a bloodbath for public schools and teacher education, and a bonanza for school choice and privatization.
“The Trump administration is seeking to cut $9.2 billion — or 13.5 percent — from the Education Department’s budget, a dramatic downsizing that would reduce or eliminate grants for teacher training, after-school programs and aid to low-income and first-generation college students.
Along with the cuts, among the steepest the agency has ever sustained, the administration is also proposing to shift $1.4 billion toward one of President Trump’s key priorities: Expanding charter schools, private-school vouchers and other alternatives to traditional public schools. His $59 billion education budget for 2018 would include an unprecedented federal investment in such “school choice” initiatives, signaling a push to reshape K-12 education in America.
The president is proposing a $168 million increase for charter schools — 50 percent above the current level — and a new $250 million private-school choice program, which would probably provide vouchers for families to use at private or parochial schools. Vouchers are one of the most polarizing issues in education, drawing fierce resistance from Democrats and some Republicans, particularly those in rural states.
Trump also wants an additional $1 billion for Title I, a $15 billion grant program for schools with high concentrations of poor children. The new funds would be used to encourage districts to adopt a controversial form of choice: Allowing local, state and federal funds to follow children to whichever public school they choose.
That policy, known as “portability,” was rejected in the Republican-led Senate during deliberations over the main K-12 education law in 2015. Many Democrats see portability as the first step toward federal vouchers for private schools and argue that it would siphon dollars from schools with high poverty and profound needs to those in more affluent neighborhoods.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Dump’s administration is NOT NORMAL. They are evil and enjoy making other’s lives miserable. he enjoys that and so does the people with whom he surrounds himself. So SAD. Hope this country survives that evil bafoon, his cabinet, and his plastic family.
Oh, please. They’re anti-public schools! Obviously. They’ve dropped any PRETENSE of supporting public schools. Trump never mentions them and DeVos rarely does. DeVos addressed lt governors the other day and simply omitted public schools. She promoted private and charter schools!
The big funding bump for charters will bring all of ed reform on board for vouchers too.
As usual public schools get the shaft in DC. They don’t value our schools. They never have. 100 Senators and 400+ House members and the only time they mention public schools is when they’re scolding us on accountability.
Show me one positive benefit or plus this “movement” offers public schools. I’m told again and again I have to “welcome” these people but why should I? They offer nothing of value to children in public schools. They’re irrelevant to 90% of kids and schools other than as an additional expense we can’t afford.
I’d really like to see the reaction if DC launched this kind of negative campaign against charter schools like they’re doing with public schools. Every ed reformer would be up in arms. Yet because it’s public schools we don’t hear a peep out of these “advocates for children”.
The whole slanted perspective is indicative of the influence of money on politics. The billionaires and corporations have bought many legislative trolls so you can’t get an unbiased comment out of them. We can also count on them to never look at evidence. This is our pathetic current reality that is so much worse under Trump-DeVos.
“The big funding bump for charters will bring all of ed reform on board for vouchers too.”
Indeed it will, and so-called reformers will shamelessly and opportunistically jump right in. Charters, except to the dupes and naifs who didn’t realize what useful idiots they were being, were never anything more then the camel’s nose getting inside the public school tent, the leading edge of what’s intended to be near-total privatization
“NCLB” (No Camel Left Behind)
The Bushy Camel head
Was poking in the tent
And look at where that led:
To Arne’s government
And now we have the butt
Of camel in the tent
We’re really in a rut
With stinky camel scent
Camel’s spit too and the one with the butt in the tent has diarrhea.
A frightening and sadly true thought: all we’re doing under Trump is dropping the PRETENSE. Eight years of President Obama, Arne Duncan and DFER management and the pathway to educational privatization was not only painstakingly cleared, but very effectively widened.
Yes, people should immediately picture the short-fingered vulgarian in their mind’s eye whenever they hear the phrase, “Obama’s legacy.”
Public schools should just disengage. Develop your own leaders from within your ranks. Stop hiring these people as consultants and stop taking direction from them.
There is no obligation to “work with” people who have nothing but contempt for existing public schools. Charter leaders would never do it. They would never take direction from a group of politicians who were opposed to their schools. Public schools shouldn’t either.
I agree. Sometimes hiring in public schools is influenced by who is on the board of education. If the privateers win elections and the state has lax laws on who can serve in administration, school districts con wind up with Broadies and other corporate vandals in leadership positions. Then, they can destroy the system from the inside out. We have seen this happen in California and other states.
Also, here’s a nasty shot the President took at every public school kid and parent in the country yesterday:
“We will give our children the right to attend a school of their choice, one where they will be taught to love this country and its values,” the president said Wednesday night at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee.
Because public schools students don’t love the country and its values. If Donald Trump is an example of “private school values” he should reform his own school. They didn’t get the job done.
Stay classy, ed reform. Keep up the attacks on 2nd graders to push your agenda.
You can find the draft budget here. I’d guess that theTrumpsters will try to put this into motion for approval ASAP, limiting discussiom. I think the whole budget reflects the wishes of lobbists who know the ropes and had ready-to-use wishlists framed to minimize staff and Congressional time in formulating budget requests. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf
I can not click “Like” for such horrible news.