Peter Greene writes here about the budget approved by Congress for the Department of Education.
There is good news and bad news. Peter Greene thinks it’s mostly good news. I’d say there is both.
Congress did not appropriate a penny for Betsy DeVos’s top priority, her $5 billion request for vouchers (aka “education freedom scholarships”). Sorry, Betsy, nada. Even Republican Congressmen and Senators represent public school parents.
But Congress appropriated $440 million for Betsy’s charter school slush fund, otherwise known as the federal Charter Schools Program. The CSP is a swamp of fraud, waste, and abuse, as the Network for Public Education demonstrated in its “Asleep at the Wheel” and “Still Asleep at the Wheel” reports, which showed that more than $1 billion in federal funds were wasted on charters that either never opened or closed not long after opening. The House (controlled by Democrats) wanted to cut CSP to $400 million (which is $400 million too much), but the Senate (controlled by Republicans) negotiated it back to level funding. The CSP was created by the Clinton administration in 1994 to help start-ups, mom-and-pop or teacher-led charters that needed some extra funding. Betsy has turned it into a big fat plum for corporate charter chains like KIPP and IDEA, which are not start-ups and which are already richly endowed with funding from billionaires, most of them right-wingers. At present, the federal government is the single biggest funded of charter schools in the nation, even in states that don’t want them or need them, like New Hampshire, where Betsy gave the state $46 million to double the number of charters, but the state legislative fiscal commission rejected the money. Congress showed its lack of concern for accountability; that’s for the little people.
Peter Greene writes:
Trump asked for a 10% cut to the department and the elimination of twenty-nine programs. That didn’t happen (though it’s worth noting that many Trump appointees like DeVos have figured out that you can cut spending in your department by simply letting positions stand empty).
There is more money for Title I. It’s about a 3% increase, while Democratic candidates are calling for increases of 200% to 300%.
The Charter Schools Program– the fund that has wasted a billion dollars on charter school waste and fraud– will stay art current levels, with neither the boost the GOP wanted nor the cut that Democrats called for.
And special ed funding will once again not be increased to its full, required level. This makes forever years for Congress to stiff the states on the granddaddy of all unfunded mandates. Thanks a lot, Congress.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DeVos and other Trump supporters share 5 key traits (from Alternet)
1. Social dominance disorder. They are driven by self. As example, Margaret Thatcher said there is no society, there are only individuals.
2. Authoritarian Personality Syndrome- They want others to strictly adhere to authority.
3. They’re prejudiced.
4. They have little intergroup contact.
5. They have a skewed perception about what they are entitled to.
I think at least 1, 2, 4 and 5 apply to all elites, “liberal”/Democrat and “conservative”/Republican alike. Comes from having power, which corrupts and distorts one’s empathy and sense of importance. I think 3 is debatable. Liberals/Democrats are less likely to be overtly or openly prejudiced, but they don’t mind, for instance, making sure their kids won’t have to go to school with “those” kids.
Speak for yourself, dienne77.
Don’t you send your kids to private school?
I don’t think you have any idea how offensive it is when you project onto “liberals/Democrats” your own beliefs. I don’t claim to be perfect, but you have a lot more in common with conservative Republicans these days than any “liberal Democrat” I know.
It is true that I don’t share in the empathy you clearly have for the poor put-upon President Trump. But I wonder at your certainty that you have more empathy and less self-importance than anyone else who posts here who may identify as a “liberal” or “Democrat”.
Adding more Democratic seats in the House and taking back the majority in the Senate may be more important than getting rid of Trump.
on point
Betsy DeVos is totally unqualified to lead the Education Department. She’s not even an educator. Shame on Trump! Even I could do better with my program called ACES (American Capitalist Education System) which helped to make the Lindbergh School District No. 1 in the State of Missouri. which I hope will reform education in America.