DeVos says Washington will not mandate 'school choice'
By Caitlin Emma
| 05/22/2017 11:52 PM EDT Education Secretary Betsy DeVos promised Monday night that the Trump administration would propose “the most ambitious expansion of education choice in our nation’s history,” but said that states, rather than Washington, D.C., would make the decisions.
“When it comes to education, no solution, not even ones we like, should be dictated or run from Washington, D.C.,” she said.
DeVos, though, offered scant details about the Trump administration's vision for school choice.
Her speech at an Indianapolis summit hosted by the American Federation for Children, the school choice advocacy group she had formerly chaired, came just hours before the Trump administration releases a budget that proposes cuts to many traditional education programs, while making a $1 billion investment in promoting public school choice that has already drawn conservative criticism for expanding the federal government's footprint in education.
States can choose not to participate in the Trump administration’s plans to expand school choice, she said. But “that would be a terrible mistake on their part," she added. “They will be hurting the children and families who can least afford it.”
DeVos also avoided getting into detail on the Trump administration's budget proposal, which proposes a new grant program that would encourage the flow of local, state and federal dollars to follow students moving from public school to public school. And she didn't mention an additional $250 million to study and expand vouchers.
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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/22/devos-school-choice-education-238704
