tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca-fr/topics/betsy-devos-33829/articlesBetsy DeVos – La Conversation2021-09-27T12:53:22Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1655812021-09-27T12:53:22Z2021-09-27T12:53:22ZHow civil rights activist Howard Fuller became a devout champion of school choice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417270/original/file-20210820-17-1cgcw33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5193%2C3466&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education reformer Howard Fuller has worked with GOP leaders in support of school vouchers.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dr-howard-fuller-author-of-the-new-book-no-struggle-no-news-photo/455118800?adppopup=true">Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a longtime civil rights activist and education reformer, Howard Fuller has seen his support for school choice spark both <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/howard-fuller-a-civil-rights-warrior-or-billionares-tool/2014/09/09/3aedeff4-37c1-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html">controversy and confusion</a>. That’s because it aligns him with polarizing Republican figures that include <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/502961-trump-calls-school-choice-the-civil-rights-issue-of-the-decade">Donald Trump</a> and Trump’s former secretary of education, <a href="https://theconversation.com/through-her-divisive-rhetoric-education-secretary-devos-leaves-a-troubled-legacy-of-her-own-152914">Betsy DeVos</a>. </p>
<p>But unlike those figures, Fuller’s support for school choice is not rooted in a conservative agenda to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/20/school-privatization-movement-marches-on-during-pandemic/">privatize public schools</a>. Rather, it is grounded in his <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/we-are-an-african-people-9780199861477?cc=us&lang=en&">ongoing quest</a> to provide Black students a quality education by any means necessary. </p>
<p>I write about Fuller in my new book “<a href="http://www.beacon.org/The-Choice-We-Face-P1635.aspx">The Choice We Face</a>,” which traces the history of school choice as well as demands for radical education reform by Black activists. Unlike most other school choice advocates I interviewed, Fuller’s activism predates the current debate and has firm footing in the Black Power movement.</p>
<p>Now 80, Fuller <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/education/2020/06/19/national-school-choice-advocate-howard-fuller-retire-marquette/3223241001/">retired in June 2020</a> from Marquette University, where he was a longtime education professor and founded the <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/education/centers-and-clinics/institute-for-the-transformation-of-learning.php">Institute for the Transformation of Learning</a> to improve education options for low-income students in Milwaukee. During the 1990s he served as superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools.</p>
<p>Here are five aspects from Fuller’s career that suggest a nuanced lens into the school choice movement. </p>
<h2>1. Advocated for Black Power in the 1960s</h2>
<p>Fuller first became involved in the civil rights movement when he joined the <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/MOM-Oral%20History/Fuller_Howard_oral_transcript%5B1%5D.pdf">Congress of Racial Equality</a> in 1964 as a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. </p>
<p>In Cleveland, Malcolm X delivered a version of the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-020-09484-5">Ballot or the Bullet</a>” speech <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/mupress/Fuller.shtml">in April 1964</a>. Days later, Rev. Bruce Klunder, a 27-year-old white Presbyterian minister, was accidentally <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/rev-bruce-klunder">crushed to death</a> by a bulldozer as he and several other activists protested the construction of a new, all-Black school. The school was the city’s attempt to avoid <a href="https://case.edu/ech/articles/k/klunder-bruce-w">desegregation</a>. </p>
<p>Fuller later helped establish and lead Malcolm X Liberation University in Raleigh, North Carolina. The independent Black-run school, which operated from 1969 to 1973, offered a unique African and African American studies curriculum as well as technical training for students to work as activists in the freedom struggle. </p>
<p>Controlling and safeguarding a school for one’s own community became a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/we-are-an-african-people-9780199861477?cc=us&lang=en&">defining principle</a> of the Black Power movement. For Fuller and others, education was liberation for Black communities. As <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/mupress/Fuller.shtml">Fuller described</a> it, the mission of the university was to educate students “totally committed to the liberation of all African people.” </p>
<h2>2. Proposed an all-Black school district in the 1980s</h2>
<p>In 1978, Fuller was embroiled in a struggle in Milwaukee to save his alma mater, North Division High School, <a href="https://dc.uwm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=etd">from closing</a>. That year, Derrick Bell, who is regarded as the “<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-godfather-of-critical-race-theory-11624627522">godfather</a>” of <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">critical race theory</a>, delivered an address in Milwaukee titled “Desegregation: A New Form of Discrimination.”</p>
<p>In his speech, Bell criticized education reforms that were more concerned with balancing racial demographics in schools than with improving Black education. He argued that building programs that did not always accept local Black students but made space for white students who lived outside the neighborhood <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1340546">hurt Black students</a>. Much like Fuller’s North Division High School, Black students were not guaranteed admission to the school closest to their home if those schools were designed to attract white students. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black-and-white photo of a man wearing a suit walking with a group of students, each one carrying a book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3067%2C2023&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/417268/original/file-20210820-13-1dnivi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=497&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Civil rights leader Derrick Bell fought for equitable education for Black students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/harvard-law-school-professor-derrick-bell-walking-w-a-group-news-photo/50591767?adppopup=true">Steve Liss/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Several years later, Howard Fuller drafted the “<a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-09-29-8703130605-story.html">Manifesto for New Directions in the Education of Black Children</a>.” The treatise proposed carving out an all-Black school district within the Milwaukee public school district to serve over <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781351313841-13/case-separate-black-school-system-derrick-bell">6,000 students</a>. The district was to be controlled by and geared toward families of color. The plan was a response to a call made in 1935 by W.E.B. DuBois, who argued that Black educators and activists should <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2291871">invest more in building Black schools</a> than integrating hostile white schools. </p>
<h2>3. Supports school vouchers today</h2>
<p>Fuller’s proposal for an all-Black school district <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/mupress/Fuller.shtml">gained traction</a>, but Wisconsin legislators opted instead for a voucher plan in 1989 – the <a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/misc/lfb/informational_papers/january_2003/0029_milwaukee_parental_choice_program_informational_paper_29.pdf">Milwaukee Parental Choice Program</a>. The program covered the tuition of students who wanted to enroll in private schools. </p>
<p>The Republican Party seized on the new voucher plan and pushed it through the state legislature. Ever since the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483">Brown v. Board of Education</a> decision in 1954, when the Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional, the Republican Party has increasingly aligned itself with school privatization efforts through <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2017/07/12/435629/racist-origins-private-school-vouchers/">vouchers</a> and “<a href="https://southernspaces.org/2019/segregationists-libertarians-and-modern-school-choice-movement/">freedom of choice</a>” plans. </p>
<p>Fuller also supported the Milwaukee voucher plan, as did some other Black activists, despite criticism from academics and organizations, <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/origins-milwaukee-parental-choice-program-no-struggle-no-progress-fuller/">including the NAACP</a>. </p>
<p>“If you’re drowning and a hand is extended to you, you don’t ask if the hand is attached to a Democrat or a Republican,” <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED531260">noted Wisconsin State Rep. Annette “Polly” Williams</a>, a Black Democrat who worked with Fuller to propose the legislation for a <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/for-maverick-polly-williams-the-mother-of-school-choice-the-point-was-always-to-empower-parents-and-improve-education-for-black-children/">separate school district</a> and also supported school vouchers.</p>
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<h2>4. Helped build the school choice movement</h2>
<p>Howard Fuller helped build the foundation for civil rights activists who are interested in school choice. As he told me during our interview in 2019, “I’ve always seen school choice from a social justice framework as opposed to a free market framework.”</p>
<p>Many activists saw it the same way.</p>
<p>For example, Wyatt Tee Walker, one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s trusted strategists, <a href="https://www.sisuluwalker.org/history">opened a charter school</a> in New York City in 1999. James Forman Jr., a civil rights lawyer, scholar, author and son of the prominent Black Panther Party organizer, opened a charter school in Washington, D.C. in 1997. Both leaders argued that failed desegregation attempts placed a <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/3146/">burden on Black families</a> by catering to white families without promising quality education for Black students. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, education activist Geoffrey Canada was <a href="https://www.wreg.com/news/2013-freedom-award-winners-named/">awarded the National Freedom Award</a> in 2013 for his charter school network, the <a href="https://hcz.org/our-purpose/our-history-zone-map/">Harlem Children’s Zone</a>. And in 2016, Martin Luther King III led one of the largest school choice rallies in the nation. “This is about freedom,” King told the crowd gathered in Florida, “the freedom to choose for your family and your child.” </p>
<p>Support for choice is not limited to a small cadre of activists. A <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/national-school-choice-poll-shows-67-of-voters-support-school-choice-2019/">2019 poll</a> by the American Federation for Children estimated that 73% of Latinos and 67% of African Americans support school choice. </p>
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<img alt="Mother, father and two small children hold hands while walking down street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=413&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423182/original/file-20210924-24-glshmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=519&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Polling data shows a majority of African Americans support school choice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-myers-family-takes-a-walk-near-their-home-in-ne-news-photo/1208289093">Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>5. Drew scorn for working with Republicans</h2>
<p>Fuller allied with prominent Republicans on school choice. He <a href="https://archive.jsonline.com/news/opinion/howard-fuller-still-a-warrior-for-children-b99338584z1-273253071.html/">met with George W. Bush</a> in 1999 while Bush was running for president. A year earlier, he debated then-Sen. Barack Obama on the issue of vouchers. His school reform work in New Orleans in the 2000s led him to collaborate with Betsy DeVos, who at that time was a <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/education/article_e8dbd575-e6e4-5b1e-b4c3-02596e539cbb.html">GOP financier and charter school advocate</a>. He also later <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYg7jn1KQo8">supported DeVos’ contested nomination</a> for secretary of education. </p>
<p>Fuller drew <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/howard-fuller-a-civil-rights-warrior-or-billionares-tool/2014/09/09/3aedeff4-37c1-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html">strong criticism</a> from the press and some education reformers for his connections with the GOP, who earned a tarnished reputation on <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/emerging-republican-majority/595504/">civil rights</a>, and for embracing what many defined as a conservative agenda.</p>
<p>In his own defense, he noted in our interview that while he agrees with some Republicans on school choice, he strongly disagrees with them “on voter ID, on drug testing for people getting public assistance. I support the minimum wage. I support Obamacare.”</p>
<p>Though his position on school choice did not curry favors with <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807863466/more-than-one-struggle/">progressive education reformers</a>, Fuller demonstrated that not all demands for school choice are the same. For instance, he believes <a href="https://hechingerreport.org/segregated-schools-are-still-the-norm-howard-fuller-is-fine-with-that/">“mom and pop” charter schools</a> are more emblematic of the long history of the Black freedom struggle than schools proposed by national charter school networks, as these grassroots schools are more often driven by the demands of historically marginalized communities. </p>
<p>“You’re going to be fighting for something for entirely different reasons than some of the people out there who are your allies,” Fuller said in our interview. I believe this difference is imperative to understanding the nuance of school choice today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165581/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Hale does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Howard Fuller’s support for school choice is connected to the Black Power movement and a pursuit to provide Black students a quality education by any means necessary.Jon Hale, Associate Professor of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1529142021-01-12T13:25:26Z2021-01-12T13:25:26ZThrough her divisive rhetoric, Education Secretary DeVos leaves a troubled legacy of her own<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/378102/original/file-20210111-17-yu4nsv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5507%2C3702&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks during the daily briefing on COVID-19 on March 27, 2020, in Washington, D.C. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-speaks-during-the-daily-news-photo/1208441564?adppopup=true"> JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos resigned from her post effective Jan. 8, 2021, saying there was “<a href="https://static.politico.com/8b/7a/29084d4f45b89aa9e49f4ba01690/devos-letter.pdf">no mistaking</a>” the impact that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric had on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Here, five scholars offer their views on DeVos’ legacy at the federal agency she headed for four years</em>.</p>
<h2>Mark Hlavacik, associate professor of communication studies, University of North Texas:</h2>
<p>In her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/betsy-devos-resignation-letter/cfd93504-2353-4ac3-8e71-155446242dda/?itid=lk_interstitial_manual_7">resignation letter</a>, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos explained that her sudden departure from the administration was motivated by President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6">incendiary words</a> to the crowd that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2021/politics/trump-insurrection-capitol/">went on to ransack</a> the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. </p>
<p>“There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation,” she declared, “and it is the inflection point for me.”</p>
<p>Interestingly, DeVos has a history of using some rather caustic and divisive language herself. Although she never encouraged or condoned the use of force to achieve political ends, her insulting characterizations of public educators as “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/10/10/the-new-insult-betsy-devos-is-hurling-at-her-critics-and-why-it-matters/">sycophant[s] of the ‘system’</a>” and “<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-us-education-secretary-betsy-devos-american-enterprise-institute">Chicken Littles</a>” will leave a troubled legacy of their own.</p>
<p>Much like democracy, public education is an enterprise that relies on a basic civic faith that Americans can come together as a nation and in their communities to do worthwhile things that benefit all. Traditionally, the secretary of education plays a key role as a rhetorical leader who brings the country together to face its educational challenges. But that has rarely been the case with DeVos. </p>
<p>As recently as October she <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-secretary-devos-hillsdale-college">used her position to warn</a> that an “unholy mob” of young socialists who “hate freedom” are using a “Marxist playbook” to attack “the family.”
Rhetoric like that in her <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-secretary-devos-hillsdale-college">speech to Hillsdale College</a> reflects an affinity for blaming that DeVos <a href="https://www.tamupress.com/book/9781623499068/demagogue-for-president/">shares with her former boss</a>.</p>
<p>As I have <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/assigning-blame">warned elsewhere</a>, such <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches">routine blaming</a> leaves the impression that any <a href="https://www.hepg.org/blog/the-paradox-of-public-blame-and-the-prospects-of-p">meaningful conversation</a> on an important issue like education will devolve into a war of accusations. </p>
<p>And that can leave not just the nation’s Capitol but also public education defenseless before a tide of extremism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies during a meeting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377817/original/file-20210108-21-17etg8o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos testifies before a Senate subcommittee.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-testifies-during-a-news-photo/1133269507?adppopup=true">Zach Gibson/Getty Images)</a></span>
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<h2>Stanley Litow, visting professor of the practice in public policy, Duke University:</h2>
<p>Although college readiness, access and affordability are more important now than ever – particularly for people of color and those who are low-income – Betsy DeVos sadly did little to address these issues.</p>
<p>Expanding <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">Pell Grants</a> – the major source of federal aid in defraying tuition costs for low-income students – should have been the focus of the Department of Education to ensure more people can afford college. The same is true of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-debt-crisis-college-cost-mind-blowing-facts-2019-700">growing crisis of college debt</a>, which now stands at a record <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SLOAS">US$1.7 trillion and counting</a>.</p>
<p>While it was up to Congress to reauthorize the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/higher-education-act-of-1965-hea.asp">Higher Education Act</a> – a federal law that regulates federal student aid, among other things, and effectively funds higher education – passage wasn’t a priority for the leadership in the department, and it didn’t happen. This was particularly troubling in light of the fact that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/05/public-higher-education-worse-spot-ever-heading-recession">state funding for higher education has declined by 18%</a> in the last two decades. </p>
<p>Also, instead of a focus on the divisive issues of <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2019/03/27/charter-school-betsy-devos-school-choice/3251111002/">charter schools</a>, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2020-10-20/betsy-devos-says-school-choice-is-coming-like-it-or-not">choice schools</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2020-02-18/betsy-devos-s-billion-dollar-voucher-boondoggle">vouchers</a>, the nation’s schools needed a laser-like focus on teaching. This is especially true when it comes to recruiting and retaining good teachers. But here, too, the Department of Education under DeVos’ leadership played little to no role. In fact, DeVos <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/05/public-higher-education-worse-spot-ever-heading-recession">pushed back on efforts to provide teachers with needed professional development</a>. </p>
<p>The Department of Education also fell short in terms of how it dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. In spite of the escalating rate of hospitalizations and deaths, no issue was as important to America’s future – in my opinion – as its long-term impact on education. After months of school being largely online, K-12 students were projected to start the 2020-21 school year with <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X20965918">significant losses in reading and math</a>. I believe the Department of Education’s support for remote learning was minimal at best, based on conversations I’ve had with school superintendents throughout the nation.</p>
<p>It was a total disaster for poor children. More than <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2020/06/22/unequally-disconnected-access-to-online-learning-in-the-us/">1 in 4 children experience food insecurity</a>, and children in those homes similarly lack online access.</p>
<h2>Kevin Welner, professor of education, University of Colorado Boulder</h2>
<p>When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, there was little doubt that he would appoint a secretary of education who would support private school vouchers, oppose teacher unions and be reluctant to enforce civil rights statutes. That agenda is consistent with every Republican administration going back to Ronald Reagan. Why, then, did Betsy DeVos become “<a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jan/06/frederica-wilson/how-unpopular-betsy-devos">the most unpopular person in our government</a>”?</p>
<p>What set her tenure apart was not what she did – it’s that she personified those policies. </p>
<p>Unlike her predecessors, DeVos had no relevant experience in public education. She was never a governor or state legislator like <a href="https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/A000360">Lamar Alexander</a>, or a legal scholar of education like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/01/us/shirley-hufstedler-pioneering-judge-and-first-cabinet-level-education-secretary-is-dead-at-90.html">Shirley Hufstedler</a>, a K-12 teacher and school administrator like <a href="https://www.ecs.org/award/1985-terrel-h-bell/">Terrel H. Bell</a> or a university professor like <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/william-j-bennett">William Bennett</a>.</p>
<p>Also unlike her predecessors, she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/education-nominee-betsy-devos-never-attended-a-public-school-theres-nothing-wrong-with-that/2017/01/29/5f63b2f6-e37c-11e6-a547-5fb9411d332c_story.html">never attended public school herself</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/us/politics/betsy-devos-private-schools-choice.html">nor did she send her children to public schools</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, she made her mark as a <a href="https://mcfn.org/node/6043/devos-family-made-14-million-in-political-contributions-in-the-last-2-years-alone">political donor</a> and <a href="https://www.dbdvfoundation.org/news/dick-and-betsy-devos-lift-the-veil-on-their-139m-in-philanthropy">philanthropist</a>. Her advocacy for private school vouchers culminated in her founding of the <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org">American Federation for Children</a> in 2010. </p>
<p>Upon taking office, she embarked on a “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-quarter-of-the-k-12-schools-betsy-devos-has-visited-are-private/2017/10/27/02d5f7a2-a946-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html">Rethink Schools</a>” tour. Almost 40% of the schools she visited were private. “Even when DeVos has visited public schools, she has tended to bypass traditional neighborhood schools, instead making stops at charter schools and other schools of choice,” The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-quarter-of-the-k-12-schools-betsy-devos-has-visited-are-private/2017/10/27/02d5f7a2-a946-11e7-850e-2bdd1236be5d_story.html">noted in 2017</a>.</p>
<p>In short, DeVos stood out because she embraced the role of privatization advocate – a role she never relinquished. She made no pretense about this advocacy. For her, all that’s required for schooling to be considered “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/02/28/betsy-devos-her-allies-are-trying-redefine-public-education-critics-call-it-absurd/">public education</a>” is public funding and use by the public, meaning that private schools can provide “public” education. DeVos, from the moment of her appointment, became a powerful symbol. That, more than any action she took while in office, set her apart.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protesters rally against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377820/original/file-20210108-19-607b9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Protesters rally against U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos outside of a banquet hall in New York.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protestors-rally-against-u-s-secretary-of-education-betsy-news-photo/1140636202?adppopup=true">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Dustin Hornbeck, postdoctoral research fellow of educational leadership and policy, University of Texas at Arlington</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos made it clear in her confirmation hearings that she believed that public schools were not “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/betsy-devos-trump-s-pick-education-secretary-won-t-rule-n708171">working for the students that are assigned to them</a>,” while she refused to answer direct questions about whether she intended to work to privatize public schools.</p>
<p>In her four-year tenure as secretary of education, it could be said that her biggest achievement was making the role of the U.S. Department of Education less prominent, and, similar to Donald Trump, <a href="https://theconversation.com/betsy-devos-6-month-report-card-more-undoing-than-doing-81793">undoing that which was done during Barack Obama’s tenure</a>. DeVos made no bones about her dedication to school choice programs, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/index.html">attempting to include $400 million in the 2018 budget</a>, which Congress rejected. She later argued that some of the funding in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act – better known as the <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares">CARES Act</a> – intended for public schools should be <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-issues-rule-ensure-cares-act-funding-serves-all-students">designated for private schools</a>. </p>
<p>Controversially, DeVos rolled back <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-takes-historic-action-strengthen-title-ix-protections-all-students">Obama-era Title IX guidance</a> that gave victims of sexual assault additional recourse on college campuses. She also instituted a <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-the-new-title-ix-regulations-will-affect-sexual-assault-cases-on-campus-138091">more complicated burden of proof</a>. Additionally, she rescinded guidance <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-rights/lgbt-youth/betsy-devos-denies-trans-students-basic-rights">to protect transgender students’</a> ability to use toilet facilities and locker rooms that correlate with their gender identity. In another incident, she rescinded education department guidance about student discipline tactics intended to curb school suspensions and overly harsh punishments that <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/betsy-devos-revokes-obama-discipline-guidance-designed-to-protect-students-of-color/2018/12">disparately impact students of color</a>.</p>
<p>Her administration <a href="https://panetta.house.gov/congressman-panetta-over-150-democrats-call-devos-release-more-information-about-department-s">dramatically slowed the approval of Public Service Loan Forgiveness</a>, which forgives federally subsidized student loans after a period of 10 years for public servants: that is, people who work for governmental agencies or for nonprofit organizations. As well, she <a href="https://studentaid.gov/sites/default/files/sweet-proposed-settlement-notification-sample.pdf">curtailed borrower defense practices</a> meant to protect consumers from predatory lending from for-profit colleges that might close before students earn a degree. She also <a href="https://www.smith.senate.gov/us-senator-tina-smith-leads-senate-colleagues-calling-secretary-devos-further-improve-program">scaled back the TEACH Grant program</a>, which gave future teachers federal money for college if they agreed to teach for a length of time in a high-need area.</p>
<p>While many of these actions have noticeably impacted educational policy, almost all of them can be overturned quickly in a new administration through direct administrative action. Few, if any, of DeVos’ school choice plans were codified and passed into law, making her legacy one of controversy and little action.</p>
<h2>Nicholas Tampio, professor of political science at Fordham University</h2>
<p>One of the great questions at the start of Betsy Devos’ tenure was whether she would enforce the federal education law signed by President Barack Obama at the end of his second term. Four years later, we know the answer: She did not try to undermine the federal testing regime instituted by the <a href="https://theconversation.com/devos-vows-to-require-standardized-tests-again-4-questions-answered-145979">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> of 2015.</p>
<p>At her contentious confirmation hearing in January 2017, Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, asked DeVos if she thought Congress took the right approach in preserving federal guardrails in education. One of these was the requirement that states test students annually in grades 3-8 and once in high school in reading and math. <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg23667/pdf/CHRG-115shrg23667.pdf">DeVos replied</a>: “I believe that Congress made great strides in returning the responsibility for education primarily to states and localities, where it belongs.”</p>
<p>Former Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, for one, was not sure whether DeVos really supported or understood the testing requirements of the law. After listening to her apparently struggle to explain the difference between testing for proficiency or growth, <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-115shrg23667/pdf/CHRG-115shrg23667.pdf">Franken replied</a>: “It surprises me that you don’t know this issue.” Every Democratic senator, and two Republicans, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-confirmation-vote.html">voted against her nomination</a>. DeVos became secretary only because Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote. Before the vote, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/us/politics/betsy-devos-education-secretary-confirmed.html?searchResultPosition=1">Franken said</a>: “It was the most embarrassing confirmation hearing that I have ever seen.”</p>
<p>Senate Democrats, it turns out, did not need to worry about DeVos’ commitment to federal testing requirements.</p>
<p>In the spring of 2019, the U.S. Department of Education warned Arizona that it could lose <a href="https://www.edweek.org/education/devos-team-arizona-could-lose-340-million-for-skirting-essas-testing-requirements/2019/04">$340 million</a> in federal education funds. Why? Because their state education plan did not use a single test for all high school students in the state. Arizona wanted to offer school districts a “menu of assessments,” but the <a href="https://azsbe.az.gov/sites/default/files/media/AZ%20high%20school%20assessments%20waiver-%20final%20letter%2019-000167.pdf">Trump team rejected that plan</a>.</p>
<p>Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for secretary of education, has <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/where-bidens-choice-for-education-secretary-stands-on-key-k-12-issues/2020/12">reaffirmed</a> his commitment to federally mandated standardized testing as a tool of equity. Ultimately, DeVos’ reign at the Department of Education will not have changed the testing regime between the Obama and Biden administrations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/152914/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has resigned. Five experts comment on the impact she had on education.Mark Hlavacik, Associate Professor of Communication Studies, University of North TexasDustin Hornbeck, Postdoctoral Research Fellow of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas at ArlingtonKevin Welner, Professor, Education Policy & Law; Director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado BoulderNicholas Tampio, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityStanley S. Litow, Visting Professor of the Pratice, Public Policy, Duke UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459172020-09-24T12:21:41Z2020-09-24T12:21:41ZPandemic school funding debate in South Carolina rekindles Jim Crow-era controversy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359098/original/file-20200921-18-upr405.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=40%2C31%2C2887%2C1949&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Football players from Lee Central High School in Bishopville, South Carolina, share a meal with players from the Robert E. Lee Academy. Lee County in South Carolina is still segregated.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/footballs-players-from-lee-central-high-school-gather-to-news-photo/458152352?adppopup=true">Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Senator Strom Thurmond addresses a classroom in South Carolina, October 20, 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/senator-strom-thurmond-addresses-a-classroom-october-20-news-photo/800757?adppopup=true">Alan Weiner/Liaison via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>As schools across America wrestle with COVID-19, the pandemic has fueled a debate over <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/brief/loeffler-joins-push-to-underwrite-private-school-tuition-as-part-of-covid-19-relief/">funding for private and public K-12 schools</a>. In South Carolina, the discussion has revived a bitter chapter from the Jim Crow era while highlighting the ways systemic <a href="https://data.postandcourier.com/saga/minimally-adequate/page/2">racism has undermined public education</a> in the state.</p>
<p>This summer <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/politics/betsy-devos-coronavirus-religious-schools.html">Education Secretary Betsy DeVos attempted to direct</a> a large share of the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/11/911869208/devos-loses-latest-fight-over-rerouting-aid-to-private-school-students">US$13.5 billion in federal coronavirus relief</a> to private schools. DeVos did so by basing funding on schools’ total number of students rather than the number of low-income students. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/08/29/second-federal-judge-slams-devos-plan-to-send-federal-funds-to-private-schools/#470f48956529">U.S. District Court judges</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/28/blistering-decision-second-federal-judge-halts-devoss-rule-giving-federal-coronavirus-aid-private-schools/">thwarted that plan</a>. Law professor Derek Black called it an attempt to use the pandemic to advance the secretary’s “<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-betsy-devos-sneak-attack-20200830-727dfzw6xzd2ff5jghmgk6pqcq-story.html">agenda to expand private education</a>.”</p>
<p>But DeVos hedged her bets by directing large sums of <a href="https://www.future-ed.org/what-congressional-covid-funding-means-for-k-12-schools/">CARES Act dollars</a> into the <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/03/senate-coronavirus-bill-passes-education-funding.html">Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund</a> that governors in several states – including <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/4-states-supporting-private-schools-covid-19-relief-lead-way-education-choice">Florida, New Hampshire and Oklahoma</a> – are delivering to private schools.</p>
<p>South Carolina’s governor, Henry McMaster, supports DeVos. On July 16 McMaster hosted the education secretary, who promoted “<a href="https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2019/07/18/betsy-devos-us-education-secretary-promotes-school-choice-upstate-sc/1765128001/">school choice</a>,” which creates subsidies for parents to send their children to private schools. Four days later, McMaster announced he would take $32 million of his $48.5 million education discretionary fund to <a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/coronavirus/article244341497.html?fbclid=IwAR3XCn9YI7JcZgY2ZLjbptUH5eGgwfwSgJ55EiGs2AbNc31fXteqnTkpDgM">provide tuition grants</a> for students at private schools.</p>
<p>The grants would provide <a href="https://gsabusiness.com/news/education/79013/">up to $6,500 for private school tuition</a> to more than 5,000 South Carolina families with an adjusted gross income of 300% or less of the federal poverty level. So, for example, a family of four with an annual household income of $78,600 or less would qualify.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/07/20/education-advocacy-group-disappointed-by-mcmaster-announcement/">Public school supporters blasted McMaster</a> for neglecting <a href="https://twitter.com/meghanedurant/status/1285276126823297024?s=20">“shamefully underfunded” public schools</a>. They point out that two-thirds of his discretionary funds would go to private schools that serve roughly <a href="https://www.privateschoolreview.com/south-carolina">68,000 students</a>, of whom only 14% are minorities. This compares with public schools that enroll more than 10 times as many students, <a href="https://ed.sc.gov/data/other/student-counts/active-student-headcounts/2019-20-active-student-head-counts/180-day-school-headcount-by-gender-ethnicity-and-pupils-in-poverty-2019-20/">50% of whom are minorities</a>.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.sc.edu/about/system_and_campuses/salkehatchie/faculty-staff/dangerfield_david.php">scholar of South Carolina history</a>, I am struck by the similarities between today’s arguments for tuition grants and those made in the Jim Crow era – and by the ways that resistance to civil rights continues to <a href="https://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/story/hale-a-decade-in-sc-as-an-advocate-for-education-and-racial-equity">echo in debates over public education</a>.</p>
<h2>A ‘fractured formula’</h2>
<p>Race often dominates public education debates in South Carolina. Rural counties along Interstate 95 are deemed “<a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/deep-in-south-carolinas-corridor-of-shame-teachers-at-new-tech-network-strive-for-a-big-turnaround/">the corridor of shame</a>” for their crumbling school buildings, poor academic performance and generational poverty. </p>
<p>Responding to school funding laws created after desegregation, the state’s <a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article13911206.html">Supreme Court found in 2014</a> that the “fractured formula” created in 1977 to determine public school funding was failing to provide a “minimally adequate” education for nearly all students.</p>
<p>Subsequent legislative appointments to the bench have tilted the court’s balance to the right, and the <a href="http://www.indexjournal.com/news/breaking/sc-high-court-vacates-abbeville-lawsuit-decision/article_e185b52e-6399-5017-997b-620701866ca4.html">decision was overturned</a> in 2017, meaning, as far as the courts are concerned, the Legislature is under less pressure to overhaul public school funding.</p>
<p>Still, South Carolina’s <a href="https://apnews.com/5593346ce22c982b21d47f8c18ca5f5e">lawmakers are wrestling</a> with how to equitably fund public education. Local districts still derive portions of their <a href="https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t59c020.php">budgets from property taxes</a>. That means poorer, often minority-dominant districts operate with less. Smaller budgets mean school quality is diminished – as are property values – in a pernicious downward cycle.</p>
<p>The leading proponents of McMaster’s tuition grants come from the conservative lobbyist group <a href="https://palmettopromise.org/person/honorable-jim-demint/">Palmetto Promise Institute</a>. <a href="https://palmettopromise.org/spend-smart-not-more-on-south-carolina-schools/">The institute’s initiatives</a> have helped shape the hotly debated 2019 and 2020 education bills in South Carolina. These measures include provisions for private school vouchers, which would provide parents <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/as-sc-public-education-revamp-stalls-private-school-voucher-supporters-mount-new-push/article_8d4c1754-5700-11e9-a8cf-5747daf6beb5.html">quarterly payments for private school costs</a>. </p>
<p>The institute’s CEO, Ellen Weaver, <a href="https://palmettopromise.org/palmetto-promise-institute-hails-new-mcmaster-safe-grants-education-program/">has praised the tuition grants</a> and celebrated the plan’s potential to give power over South Carolina’s education spending <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cares-act-creates-an-opportunity-for-school-choice-11596836128?mc_cid=80713d1162&mc_eid=193549bafc">“to parents” rather than “central planners.”</a> </p>
<p>The irony in promoting <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/health/covid19/commentary-safe-grants-would-create-equity-for-sc-students/article_749cd10e-e8b7-11ea-8029-23c4e929bf19.html">equality in separate, private education</a> should not be lost on students of history. </p>
<h2>Massive resistance</h2>
<p>Historian John White determined 28 segregated private schools opened in South Carolina between 1963 and 1966. There were 44 by 1967. In <a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/local/civil-rights/article13855208.html">South Carolina</a> and other states, these “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/12/in-southern-towns-segregation-academies-are-still-going-strong/266207/">segregation academies</a>” were founded in open defiance of the Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483">Brown v. Board of Education</a> decision that struck down “separate but equal” schools and signaled the beginning of desegregation.</p>
<p>Other acts of defiance followed. Former Sen. Strom Thurmond penned the “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2009/03/southern-manifesto-introduced-march-12-1956-019897">Southern Manifesto</a>,” urging resistance to school integration. And South Carolina joined other Southern states in hoisting Confederate flags on their Statehouse grounds as symbols of their renewed rebellion. The South Carolina state Legislature, furthermore, <a href="https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/gressette-committee/">struck down compulsory education and withheld funding</a> from public schools when courts ordered their integration, choosing no schools over mixed-race ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359100/original/file-20200921-18-1uqs85d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sen. Strom Thurmond addresses a classroom in South Carolina, Oct. 20, 1996.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/senator-strom-thurmond-addresses-a-classroom-october-20-news-photo/800757?adppopup=true">Alan Weiner/Liaison via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1963, South Carolina Gov. Donald Russell called for tuition grants for students to attend private schools if they chose not to attend integrated public schools. Then state Rep. Harold Breazeale told The State newspaper in January 1963 that the grants were “designed to upgrade public school education through competition from private schools.” </p>
<p>Today’s education debate in South Carolina <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/a-provocative-argument-on-segregation-school-choice-and-shared-language/2020/01/24/b602691a-3d36-11ea-baca-eb7ace0a3455_story.html">echoes these talking points</a>.</p>
<p>The 1963 tuition grant bill never mentioned race. But Tom Turnipseed, the first director of the state’s Independent Schools and Academies Association – who years later became a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/politics/tom-turnipseed-dead.html">social justice advocate</a> – <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2005/03/21/deja-vu-parents-charge-tuition-grants-and-choice-education">said the following in 2005</a>: </p>
<p>“We bristled with indignation when reporters referred to SCISA as an association of ‘segregated academies.’ We preferred to emphasize that we were simply putting parents in charge and giving them a choice of more educational opportunities for their children. We … wanted smaller classes and more parental involvement and input in the curriculum, as we went about naming the schools for Confederate figures.”</p>
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<p>The fight over Gov. Russell’s tuition grants lasted five years, until the Brown v. Board decision – no, not the Brown decision you’re thinking about. <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/296/199/1982763/">Brown v. the Board of Education of South Carolina in 1968</a> ended when the 4th Circuit ruled the tuition grants were an unconstitutional attempt to circumvent federally mandated integration.</p>
<p>The state never repealed the law. From <a href="https://scpolicycouncil.org/research/education/school-choice-history">time to time</a> it has tried to revive the grants in various forms – each time, as now, citing choice and equality. This latest effort has <a href="https://www.postandcourier.com/politics/sc-supreme-court-agrees-to-hear-case-over-gov-mcmasters-private-school-grant-program/article_49e9a3b6-e2f8-11ea-857c-1b40bbed8a13.html">sparked its own legal challenge</a>, and the state’s Supreme Court <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/south-carolina/articles/2020-09-18/sc-justices-reopen-courtroom-with-school-funding-lawsuit">heard arguments</a> on Sept. 18. Attorneys representing Thomasena Adams, a public school educator, argued the grants violate the South Carolina Constitution’s prohibitions against public money supporting private schools.</p>
<p>South Carolina resembles many states where educational problems are frequently bound to the era of resistance to civil rights – a fact that should be confronted if disparities in public education opportunities and gerrymandered attendance lines are to be fully addressed for public schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145917/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David W. Dangerfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The battle to expand private education in South Carolina amid the pandemic mirrors previous struggles over civil rights and highlights the ways systemic racism has undermined public education.David W. Dangerfield, Assistant Professor of History, University of South Carolina SalkehatchieLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459792020-09-15T11:49:25Z2020-09-15T11:49:25ZDeVos vows to require standardized tests again: 4 questions answered<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357724/original/file-20200911-16-5clq9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=322%2C125%2C2472%2C1734&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is the government's plan feasible?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-listens-during-a-white-news-photo/1255048799">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/03/devos-enforce-school-testing-mandates-408626">Education Secretary Betsy DeVos</a> announced on Sept. 3 that the government intended to enforce federal rules that require all states to administer standardized tests at K-12 public schools during the 2020-2021 school year. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uUXDvV4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">Nicholas Tampio</a>, a Fordham University political scientist who researches <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/common-core">education policy</a>, puts this declaration into context.</em> </p>
<h2>1. What did DeVos say?</h2>
<p>Since the passage of the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/no-child-left-behind-overview-definition-summary.html">No Child Left Behind Act of 2001</a>, U.S. public school students have had to take federally mandated standardized tests every year. </p>
<p>Students got a break <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/helping-students-adversely-affected-school-closures-secretary-devos-announces-broad-flexibilities-states-cancel-testing-during-national-emergency">in the spring of 2020</a> when DeVos announced that states could apply for waivers due to the pandemic. “Neither students nor teachers,” she explained, “need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this difficult time.”</p>
<p>In September, DeVos reaffirmed her commitment to federally mandated testing. “It is now our expectation,” DeVos wrote in <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Secretary%20DeVos%20Letter%20to%20CSSOs%2009%2003%202020.pdf">a letter to chief state school officers</a>, “that states will, in the interest of students,” administer standardized tests at the end of the 2020-2021 school year.</p>
<h2>2. How is testing data used?</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uUXDvV4AAAAJ&hl=en">As a political scientist</a> who researches education policy, I know that money is the main lever for the federal government to influence states and local school districts. For example, the federal government sets conditions that states must accept to secure <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html">Title I funding</a>, which supports schools where many children are being raised in poverty. </p>
<p>Only about 8% of the roughly <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-spending-covers-only-8-of-public-school-budgets-142348">US$720 billion that all levels of government spend on public schools</a>
comes from federal sources. Yet federal education <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-spending-covers-only-8-of-public-school-budgets-142348">money is vital</a> because it helps state and local governments boost their budgets for the education of some of the most vulnerable students, including those with special needs.</p>
<p>In the spring of 2019, the DeVos team <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/04/betsy-devos-arizona-essa-testing-act-sat-high-school.html">threatened to withhold</a> $340 million in federal education funds from Arizona. Why? Because the state had not complied with the testing requirements of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-every-student-succeeds-act-still-leaves-most-vulnerable-kids-behind-46247">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, which replaced No Child Left Behind in 2015. </p>
<p>In short, states may face a financial hit if they do not heed DeVos’ warning about testing. And if states lose federal funding, they may, in turn, cut their funding for local school districts.</p>
<p>In her letter, DeVos called federally mandated tests “among the most reliable tools available to help us understand how children are performing in school.” This data provides information to teachers, parents, policymakers and the public about how schools compare to one another. Without this data, in DeVos’ view, the American people will not have transparency and accountability in public education. </p>
<h2>3. What challenges might schools and students face?</h2>
<p>But getting good data during a pandemic may prove challenging. The recent precedent for large numbers of students taking standardized tests online, rather than at school or another appropriate public place, isn’t promising.</p>
<p>After the College Board administered <a href="https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students/taking-ap-exams">Advanced Placement</a> tests online in the spring of 2020, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/05/18/students-complain-they-cannot-submit-ap-tests">students and their families</a> complained when they were not able to upload their exams. </p>
<p>What’s more, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216362">research shows</a> that physical conditions where the testing happens matters. If administrators cannot adjust the thermostat in a public school building, for example, it can skew test outcomes. As a result, I’m concerned that unequal conditions at students’ homes could make students who face economic hardship or have other challenges where they live score lower than they should – making their scores a less meaningful way to measure their academic strengths and achievements.</p>
<p>In response to questions about whether testing will be feasible during the 2020-2021 school year, <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Secretary%20DeVos%20Letter%20to%20CSSOs%2009%2003%202020.pdf">DeVos has asked chief state school officers</a> to get more creative. “I am reminded of the old saying: Necessity is the mother of invention,” she stated. </p>
<p>DeVos also <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Secretary%20DeVos%20Letter%20to%20CSSOs%2009%2003%202020.pdf">told chief state school officers</a> to follow “the guidance of local health officials.” And yet, her letter lacks any specific guidance on how states could administer tests in case students cannot safely take the tests in public school buildings due to COVID-19 surges.</p>
<h2>4. Could a Biden administration waive testing?</h2>
<p>Democratic presidential nominee <a href="https://joebiden.com/education/#">Joe Biden’s official position on education</a>, as spelled out on his campaign’s website, doesn’t mention high-stakes testing. Nor does his campaign say anything about <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/its-nearly-time-to-reauthorize-the-every-student-succeeds-act-4-priorities-otherwise-distracted-national-leaders-should-set-to-make-the-k-12-law-stronger/">revising the Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, which Congress must revisit and possibly change through an <a href="https://www.senate.gov/reference/glossary_term/authorization.htm">upcoming reauthorization process</a> after the 2020-21 school year.</p>
<p>In her letter to the chief state school officers, DeVos observed that “statewide assessments are at the very core of the bipartisan agreement that forged ESSA.” DeVos noted that a <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/Secretary%20DeVos%20Letter%20to%20CSSOs%2009%2003%202020.pdf">bipartisan coalition supports administering tests this year</a>. </p>
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<p>One of Biden’s senior education policy advisers is <a href="https://www.future-ed.org/an-education-policy-veteran-on-the-biden-team/">Carmel Martin</a>. A former Obama Education Department staffer, Martin until recently worked for the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/07/tom-steyer-steps-down-from-clinton-linked-think-tank-board-in-midst-of-2020-run.html">Center for American Progress</a>, a liberal think tank with strong ties to the Democratic Party that DeVos cited in her decision to proceed with federally mandated testing. </p>
<p>If Biden becomes president, therefore, I think it’s reasonable for schools to assume that his education team will only grant waivers, like the one DeVos issued in <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/03/COVID-19-OESE-FINAL-3.12.20.pdf">March 2020</a>, in “extraordinary circumstances.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Tampio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Millions of public school students are learning online, mostly at home. Any standardized tests they take in this unusual school year may not yield reliable data about their academic progress.Nicholas Tampio, Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1423582020-07-16T12:16:18Z2020-07-16T12:16:18ZUntil teachers feel safe, widespread in-person K-12 schooling may prove impossible in US<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347781/original/file-20200715-25-1753j91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Few first days the new school year will look like this in 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mrs-davis-reads-no-david-by-david-shannon-to-her-students-news-photo/1170764426">Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Safely resuming in-person instruction at U.S. public schools is important for the <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/DigitalEducation/2020/06/remote_learning_achievement_gap.html">academic</a>, <a href="https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/">physical, emotional and social well-being of children</a> and their families. It’s also a key factor for the nation’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/continued-lack-of-childcare-will-impact-us-economy-2020-7">economic recovery</a>.</p>
<p>But in mid-July, despite <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/10/trump-schools-backlash-coronavirus-356721">considerable pressure from the Trump administration</a>, many school systems around the nation had announced that they didn’t yet believe that anything close to resembling a traditional schedule would be feasible before the 2020-21 school year starts. Many school districts, including those in <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/07/13/los-angeles-san-diego-schools-will-remain-closed-when-classes-resume-9423610">Los Angeles, San Diego</a> and <a href="https://www.houstonisd.org/reopening">Houston</a>, three of the nation’s largest, were planning to be fully online.</p>
<p>Others, such as those serving <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-new-york-schoo/new-york-city-unveils-hybrid-school-reopening-plan-idUSKBN2492FG">New York City</a> and <a href="https://www.wapt.com/article/clinton-public-school-district-releases-hybrid-back-to-school-plan/33322468#">Clinton, Mississippi</a>, currently plan to follow hybrid approaches that combine distance learning and in-person learning. The goal in those cases is to reduce the spread of coronavirus by keeping students several feet apart from each other at all times and the only way to do that is to have fewer children in school at any given time.</p>
<p>Some states, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888320203/florida-orders-schools-to-reopen-in-the-fall-for-in-person-instruction">Florida</a>, are trying to demand that local school systems at least offer families a chance for in-person daily instruction. But it’s unlikely that all schools schools in those states will have on-site instruction, especially in <a href="https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/education-on-6/miami-dade-public-schools-monitoring-pandemic-locally-when-deciding-reopening-strategy/2261727/">COVID-19 hotspots</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://image.cta-mailings.org/lib/fe8a1574766d017b7c/m/2/2167fb86-b25b-4ce3-9bc7-4248b105a80d.pdf">Pressure from teachers</a> has contributed to decisions to refrain from holding classes in person everywhere from <a href="https://edsource.org/2020/schools-in-los-angeles-san-diego-wont-reopen-for-in-person-learning-next-month/635924">Southern California</a> to <a href="https://www.arlnow.com/2020/07/14/breaking-superintendent-to-propose-online-only-start-to-school-year/">Northern Virginia</a>. Based on my research regarding <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/79809394_Michael_F_Addonizio">educational leadership and school policies</a>, I believe that those moves reflect how teachers are insisting that schools only be reopened once staff and student safety can be more assured. </p>
<h2>Concerns expressed</h2>
<p>In June, a survey of the members of the <a href="https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/June_2020_member_poll_slides_07072020.pdf">American Federation of Teachers</a>, a union with <a href="https://www.aft.org/publicservices/about-aft-public-employees">1.6 million members</a>, found that only 21% of K-12 teachers preferred to resume school on a traditional schedule. Another 42% supported a hybrid approach combining in-person and distance learning and 29% wanted to continue with distance learning exclusively and the rest didn’t express a preference.</p>
<p>Fully 62% of the teachers responding to the survey expressed concerns over school safety tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>One reason for this trepidation is demographic. More than 1 in 4 of the nation’s <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372#PK12_teachers">3.7 million public school teachers</a> are <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2020142">50 years old or older</a>. That means they have a high <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/older-adults.html">risk of getting severe symptoms</a> if they contract COVID-19.</p>
<p>Countless other teachers live with someone who is in a high-risk category due to their age or have underlying conditions that put them at a greater risk should they get sick.</p>
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<p>A recent effort to at least bring teachers together while they taught young students online over the summer didn’t bode well. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/beloved-arizona-teacher-dies-coronavirus-two-others-sharing-classroom-also-n1233672">Three teachers shared a classroom</a> at an Arizona public school. Although all three wore masks and gloves, used hand sanitizer and socially distanced, they all got infected with the coronavirus. One of them, who was 61, died in June.</p>
<p>Even experts do not yet have a good understanding of the likely risks tied to <a href="https://doi.org/10.17226/25858">reopening K-12 school buildings</a>. Much remains unknown about the degree to which kids, who appear to be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/politics/do-kids-spread-coronavirus-fact-check/index.html">unlikely to develop COVID-19 symptoms</a>, can spread the coronavirus. It’s unclear whether the <a href="https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/06/schools-COVID-era-return-air-system-problems-watchdog.html">heating and cooling systems</a> in school buildings function adequately enough to rely on during a pandemic. And no one knows how the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/06/25/hybrid-school-schedules-more-flexibility-big-logistical.html">alternative scheduling scenarios</a> taking shape might affect student and staff safety since for the most part they are unprecedented.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="In the second grade classroom of teacher Mrs. Miranda at Cerritos Elementary School in Glendale, the calendar never went beyond March 13, 2020." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347774/original/file-20200715-31-1o38amk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In-person instruction ceased in much of the U.S. in mid-March 2020 due to the coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-items-are-left-as-they-were-since-march-13-2020-in-news-photo/1215550110">Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Greater clout</h2>
<p>This pushback from teachers is in keeping with a recent wave of mass mobilization by educators.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-teacher-strikes-unions-focus-on-social-justice-not-just-salaries-111490">2018 and 2019</a>, tens of thousands of public school teachers, both unionized and not, walked out of their classrooms. In states like Kentucky, Arizona, California and Illinois, they protested low salaries, large class sizes and cuts to school budgets that have forced many teachers to spend their own money on classroom materials. </p>
<p>From these walkouts, some statewide and others limited to specific school districts, teachers won better pay and working conditions. They also garnered <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2019/01/los-angeles-deal-end-strike.html">considerable public support</a> that may have bolstered educators’ <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/lausd-will-not-have-in-person-classes-in-the-fall-online-learning-to-continue/2395329/">political clout</a> in decisions being made about how to carry on with K-12 schooling in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<h2>Major consequences</h2>
<p>Teaching is challenging in the best of times. Now teachers are being asked and told to do more than ever: prepare in-person, online and hybrid lessons, allay students’ anxieties, and risk their own and their families’ health while serving students and families, often in communities where the pandemic isn’t anywhere near under control.</p>
<p>Should school systems not heed teacher safety concerns, there’s a risk that large numbers of educators <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/5/9/21252608/older-teachers-heath-concerns-coronavirus-return-to-schools">might retire early or quit</a> until conditions are safer.</p>
<p>A wave of resignations could have major consequences for school quality. <a href="https://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/does-money-matter-second-edition">Teacher experience makes a big difference</a>, in terms of both measured student achievement and student behavior. And replacing them with inexperienced substitute teachers and others far less qualified and issued emergency credentials would surely take a toll on the quality of education children get, whether it happens online or in classrooms.</p>
<p>In my view, the educational costs of losing scores of veteran teachers over personal health concerns would be incalculable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Addonizio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An effort to bring three teachers together while they taught young students online over the summer in Arizona didn’t bode well.Michael Addonizio, Professor of educational leadership and policy studies, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417652020-07-07T12:15:22Z2020-07-07T12:15:22ZSupreme Court hands victory to school voucher lobby – will religious minorities, nonbelievers and state autonomy lose out?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345866/original/file-20200706-25-14z3se3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4025%2C3017&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters gather as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visits a school in Maryland.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/large-group-of-protesters-gather-after-devos-enters-the-news-photo/657150080?adppopup=true">Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court’s <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf">recent decision</a> that Montana cannot exclude donations that go to religious schools from a small tax credit program could have consequences felt far beyond the state.</p>
<p>The 5-4 ruling in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf">Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue</a>, which came down June 30, follows on from recent cases that have expanded what counts as <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf">discrimination against religion under the U.S. Constitution</a>, making it harder for states to deny grants to faith-based institutions.</p>
<p>From my perspective as <a href="https://www.law.msu.edu/faculty_staff/profile.php?prof=238">a scholar of law and religion</a>, this latest ruling could massively limit states’ ability to exclude religious schools from all sorts of funding, including <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/05/12/520111511/the-promise-and-peril-of-school-vouchers">controversial voucher programs</a> which allow state funds to be used by parents to send children to a private school. And rather than preventing religious discrimination, the court’s decision may actually support a system that discriminates against religious minorities and those of no faith.</p>
<h2>A win for voucher advocates</h2>
<p>The Espinoza decision was quickly <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/2020/6/30/21308198/supreme-court-espinoza-montana-case-vouchers-victory-devos">hailed as a major win by supporters of school vouchers</a>, including Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. It isn’t the first time they have cheered the court.</p>
<p>In 2002, the Supreme Court, in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, ruled in favor of a voucher program in Ohio which <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/00-1751">overwhelmingly benefited religious schools</a>. The court held that the program did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/establishment_clause">Establishment Clause</a> which limits government support for, and promotion of, religion.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/345867/original/file-20200706-4013-13y0bkg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A school voucher rally take place outside the Supreme Court in 2002.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Associated-Press-Domestic-News-Dist-of-Columbi-/576c9ba366e5da11af9f0014c2589dfb/42/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>That decision broke with <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=facpubs">a long line of previous cases</a>, which held that government could not use taxpayer dollars to fund religious education. </p>
<p>In the years following the Zelman decision, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/08/school-choice-gaining-popularity/568063/">public support for school voucher programs has grown</a>. The <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/12/07/504451460/school-choice-101-what-it-is-how-it-works-and-does-it-work">election of President Donald Trump</a> and appointment of DeVos as education secretary gave the pro-voucher lobby powerful advocates in the administration. The White House has made <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED586964.pdf">vouchers a central plank of their schools policy</a>, with Trump likening “school choice” – a term that includes the use of vouchers – as the “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2020/06/16/trump-school-choice-is-the-civil-rights-statement-of-the-year/#1044dbe03f46">civil rights statement</a>” of the decade.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has paved the way for religious schools to benefit from vouchers through a series of rulings.</p>
<p>In addition to Zelman, and as a precursor to Espinoza, the justices ruled in 2017 that a Missouri program that provided free playground chips for resurfacing, could not deny access to a religious school seeking to resurface its playground. In that case, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-577_khlp.pdf">Trinity Lutheran v. Comer</a>, the justices held that refusing the grant contravened the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause, which prohibits discrimination against religion, among other things.</p>
<p>Until then, the doctrine had been limited to situations in which a government discriminated against a religion through <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1992/91-948">hostility toward that faith</a>, such as when the City of Hialeah, Florida, created a series of ordinances to <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1992/91-948">discriminate against the practice of Santeria</a>. </p>
<p>In a footnote in the Trinity Lutheran case, the justices specifically noted that the decision was limited and did “not address religious uses of funding” such as for attendance at religious schools. But in Espinoza, the Supreme Court has essentially ignored that narrower reading. Instead, the court held that exclusion of donations to religious schools from the state tax credit program <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=facpubs#page=10">discriminates against religion</a>.</p>
<h2>Siphoning funds</h2>
<p>This has significant implications for school vouchers. It could force states to include religious schools in any program that is open to private nonreligious schools. </p>
<p>So if a state allows for parents to use vouchers to take a child out of the public school system, then religious schools must be allowed to benefit from those funds.</p>
<p>But rather than <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=facpubs">preventing religious discrimination</a>, the expansion of voucher plans, in my view, may actually encourage it.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgc.asp">majority of private schools are religious</a> – and in some areas with voucher programs, religious schools make up more than 90% of private schools.</p>
<p>In most districts, religious schools that can afford to take voucher students represent only a few larger denominations that are able to highly subsidize religious education. For example, in the Cleveland School District involved in the Zelman case, 96% of voucher recipients went to religious schools <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/00-1751">representing just one or two denominations</a>. </p>
<p>But vouchers <a href="https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2017/1/9/21102953/trump-s-voucher-plan-would-strip-funding-from-over-1-200-schools-in-new-york-city-union-analysis-sho">strip money from public education</a> – every voucher going to a private school means a loss of per student funding for public schools.</p>
<p>This would force the parents of religious minorities, agnostics and atheists to choose between sending their children to a school that may provide religious teaching that goes against their wishes or leave their children in public schools that will be further <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.msu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=facpubs">drained of funding and students</a>.</p>
<p>The Espinoza ruling did leave the door ajar a little when it comes to limiting vouchers to religious private schools. The court draws a tightrope-like line between discrimination based on religious status – the fact that a school is religious – and situations where the denial of funding is based on concerns the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf#page=10">funds will support religious functions</a>.</p>
<p>But precedent suggests walking this tightrope might be difficult for states and school districts. The Supreme Court’s decision in Zelman upheld vouchers for religious schools <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/00-1751">including those which proselytize</a>. It is hard to imagine how a state might prevent funds from going to a faith-based school without it being seen as denying funding based on that school’s religious status. </p>
<p>Of course, states can simply not have voucher or tax credit programs for private schools – the Espinoza decision <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf#page=23">makes it clear that this is acceptable</a>. And some states already do this. For example, Michigan explicitly <a href="http://www.legislature.mi.gov/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-Article-VIII-2">prevents taxpayer money going to private schools regardless of whether those schools are religious or not</a>.</p>
<p>But even these bans on taxpayer funding for private education are <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/gov-whitmer-gop-clash-michigan-ban-public-funds-private-schools#:%7E:text=The%20ban%20applies%20to%20all,as%20U.S.%20secretary%20of%20education.">increasingly being challenged</a> by school voucher enthusiasts and religious groups. </p>
<h2>Put on notice</h2>
<p>In Espinoza, the Supreme Court has put states and school districts on notice that if they have voucher programs they can not prevent taxpayer money from being used at religious private schools. That could leave some parents with an uncomfortable choice between sending a child to a public school that is losing funding as a result of vouchers or a religious private school that may proselytize their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank S. Ravitch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Expansion of voucher programs may leave parents with a choice between sending children to religious schools or public schools stripped of funding.Frank S. Ravitch, Professor of Law & Walter H. Stowers Chair of Law and Religion, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1385032020-05-16T13:17:38Z2020-05-16T13:17:38ZGiving private schools federal emergency funds slated for low-income students will shortchange at-risk kids<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335461/original/file-20200515-138634-17z514r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=372%2C139%2C4803%2C3236&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-income Seattle students began to pick up bagged lunches in March after their school closed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/cynthia-wright-asks-carlos-jimenez-if-he-would-like-some-news-photo/1207638078">Karen Ducey/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public schools have faced three distinct challenges since the coronavirus pandemic began – scrambling to make sure that <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/4/17/21220016/school-lunch-coronavirus-meal-programs">low-income children don’t go hungry</a>, teaching students remotely who <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-all-kids-have-computers-and-theyre-being-left-behind-with-schools-closed-by-the-coronavirus-137359">lack internet access</a> and bracing for dramatically <a href="https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/coronavirus-covid-schools-budget-education-pennsylvania-philadelphia-20200512.html">smaller budgets</a>.</p>
<p>Congress tried to help in the US$2 trillion economic relief package known as the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/748/text">Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security</a>, or CARES Act, by designating <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/04/01/schools-get-135-billion-in-coronavirus-package.html">$13.5 billion</a> for public schools. The money was supposed to be distributed to school districts based on the number of low-income students they enroll. A <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/files/2020/04/FAQs-Equitable-Services.pdf">new directive</a> from the U.S. Department of Education, however, tells districts to share far more of the money than expected with <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/who-goes-private-school-long-term-enrollment-trends-family-income/">private and religious school students, even though fewer than 5%</a> of those children are poor.</p>
<p>I’m a scholar of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eVP-tTgAAAAJ&hl=en">federal education policy and history</a> who has <a href="https://www.inspire2serve.gov/hearings/creating-expectation-service-hearing-civic-education-and-service-schools">testified before a congressional commission</a> and <a href="https://casetext.com/case/jindal-v-us-dept-of-educ-2">federal courts</a> in disputes over federal funds. In my view, this new policy runs counter to what Congress has tried to achieve in public education for the past 50 years and it directly contradicts the CARES Act.</p>
<h2>A new formula</h2>
<p>The funding is supposed to stabilize public school budgets as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/05/08/k-12-school-leaders-warn-disaster-huge-coronavirus-related-budget-cuts-layoffs-furloughs-begin/">local and state revenues</a>, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/democratic-candidates-seek-a-big-and-unprecedented-k-12-funding-boost-131739">primary sources of U.S. public school funding</a>, decline and the <a href="https://districtadministration.com/cares-act-schools-cope-coronavirus-online-learning-covid-19-costs/">costs of responding</a> to the pandemic increase.</p>
<p>Schools from coast to coast are <a href="https://thelensnola.org/2020/04/06/school-district-laptops-hotspots-will-go-to-students-this-week/">buying computers</a> and scrambling to get low-income students the bandwidth they need for distance learning.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.future-ed.org/what-congressional-covid-funding-means-for-k-12-schools/">relief package specified</a> that the money would go to school districts based on the number of low-income students they serve. Those are children who are eligible for <a href="https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/child-nutrition-programs/national-school-lunch-program/">free and reduced-priced meals</a>. Students whose families are below 185% of the official poverty line – which as of 2020 stands at <a href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines">$26,200 per year for a family of four</a> – fall into this category.</p>
<p>School districts are also to reserve a portion of those funds to ensure equitable services for any low-income students who may attend private schools. That’s in keeping with a practice in place since Congress passed the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/non-public-education/files/equitable-services-guidance-100419.pdf">Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965</a>.</p>
<p>The department’s new guidance calls for a different method. Public school systems are being told to share these new federal funds based on the total number of students who attend private schools – rather than the much smaller number of low-income students in these schools. In other words, public school districts are being told to reserve funds for roughly <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=55">6 million</a> total private school students, of which only an estimated <a href="https://www.excelined.org/edfly-blog/private-schools-are-ready-to-serve-low-and-middle-incomes-students/">300,000</a> are low-income children. </p>
<p>By contrast, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_204.10.asp?current=yes">52.3%</a> of the nation’s <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cga.asp">50 million</a> public school students are low-income.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.southerneducation.org/publications/newmajorityupdate/">In Mississippi, for instance, 71%</a> of public school students are poor, and nationwide, on average, family <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED584733">incomes in private schools are as much
as 88% higher</a> than those in public schools.</p>
<p>Moreover, private schools, unlike public schools, are already eligible for <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/private-schools-are-eligible-for-federal-paycheck-protection-program-ppp-details/">federal payroll protection</a> funding under the CARES Act because they are considered small businesses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C287%2C4069%2C2135&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C287%2C4069%2C2135&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/335405/original/file-20200515-138634-re4vq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public schools were taking many precautions with meal distribution after a few weeks of widespread school closures.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/red-cross-volunteers-and-lausd-employees-hand-out-meals-at-news-photo/1215249296">Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shortchanging the poor</h2>
<p><a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=55">Only about 10%</a> of the nation’s students attend private schools. This is something Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has long aimed to change. She has consistently supported policies that would <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2019/09/17/betsy-devos-polly-williams-vouchers-and-selective-facts/#540b9d4818ee">increase public funding for private school enrollment</a> in the form of vouchers and <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/can-529-savings-plans-be-used-k-12-private-school-tuition/">tax credits</a>. From this perspective, the current policy – while inconsistent with the law, equity and history – makes sense. But this time, DeVos’ private school policy would directly shortchange poor students.</p>
<p>The accounting method will require public schools – which are only receiving new federal money based on their poor students – to reserve multiple times more money for private schools than the CARES Act requires.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://edlawcenter.org/news/archives/school-funding/new-jersey-must-reject-education-secretary-devos%E2%80%99-advice-to-give-emergency-covid-19-funds-even-to-wealthy-private-schools.html">Passaic, New Jersey</a>, where the majority of public school students are poor, the district will need to reserve $1.4 million instead of $300,000 for private school students, according to an education advocacy group in that state. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/politics/betsy-devos-coronavirus-religious-schools.html">Montana estimates</a> it will need to reserve $1.5 million for private schools rather than $206,469 it believes the law requires, The New York Times reports.</p>
<p>This will only increase the challenges that the highest poverty schools face. Before the pandemic even hit, public schools serving the highest-poverty communities had <a href="https://edtrust.org/resource/funding-gaps-2018/">$1,000 less per student</a> than those educating affluent students. These shortfalls are likely to expand based on current economic conditions.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/267960706-Is-School-Funding-Fair-4th-Edition.pdf">During the Great Recession</a>, states like North Carolina and Florida cut public school funding by 20% or more in three years. Poor communities there and elsewhere were the <a href="http://kasbresearch.blogspot.com/2017/01/is-school-funding-fair-national-report.html">hardest hit</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_lawreview/vol94/iss2/7/">practical effects</a> of these cuts were increased class sizes, unfilled teacher vacancies, higher percentages of uncertified teachers and schools where critical support staff like nurses and guidance counselors were too often missing. Some school districts were in <a href="https://scholarship.law.uc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=uclr">such dire straits that they teetered on bankruptcy</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/09/11/491831552/this-district-may-close-all-of-its-high-schools-but-its-about-much-more-than-mon">considered closing</a> some schools. </p>
<h2>Fixing the problem</h2>
<p>One solution to the current problem is for Congress to reiterate its original intent even more clearly. The <a href="https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20200511/BILLS-116hr6800ih.pdf">$3 trillion relief bill</a> passed by the House includes a provision that would do that.</p>
<p>The quicker option is for Congress to use its oversight powers to force the Education Department to concede that it made an error. That happened earlier this year when it reversed course on its plan to change the method for allocating funds to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/04/politics/education-department-federal-funding-for-rural-schools/index.html">rural schools</a>.</p>
<p>Those options, however, can be slow and uncertain. That’s one reason <a href="https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2020/05/indiana-education-department-dismisses-federal-cares-school-funding-guidance/">Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction</a> Jennifer McCormick went ahead and told her school districts to ignore the guidance this week.</p>
<p>The law is on McCormick’s side. Her action offered a clear path forward for state and local officials across the nation who don’t believe that waiting for the political process to correct itself is fair to the country’s children who need help now. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138503/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek W. Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Education Department is reinterpreting rules Congress wrote for how public school systems should share federal dollars with private schools.Derek W. Black, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1317392020-02-18T13:55:01Z2020-02-18T13:55:01ZDemocratic candidates seek a big and unprecedented K-12 funding boost<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315356/original/file-20200213-11000-t70bwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C640%2C4062%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">She's got proposals for constituents too young to vote.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/democratic-presidential-candidate-sen-amy-klobuchar-greets-news-photo/1199727589">Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Democratic presidential candidates are proposing <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2019/09/presidential-candidates-education-2020-teachers-student-debt-school-safety-funding.html">new approaches</a> to the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html">federal government’s role</a> in public education. </p>
<p>Former Vice President <a href="https://joebiden.com/education/">Joe Biden</a> and Sen. <a href="https://berniesanders.com/en/issues/reinvest-in-public-education/">Bernie Sanders</a> want to triple the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/EDFP_a_00103">US$15 billion</a> spent annually on <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html">Title I</a>, a program that sends extra federal dollars to school districts that educate a high percentage of poor children.</p>
<p>Sen. <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/plans/public-education">Elizabeth Warren</a> wants to go further and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/10/22/what-elizabeth-warrens-k-12-plan-reveals-about-education-politics-today/">quadruple funding for that same program</a>. </p>
<p>Other candidates have similar proposals to substantially increase funding for public education, including Sen. <a href="https://medium.com/@AmyforAmerica/amys-first-100-days-b7adf9f91262">Amy Klobuchar</a> and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/12/07/mayor-pete-buttigieg-k-12-education-plan-charter-schools/">Pete Buttigieg</a>. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t yet issued his education platform, or <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/01/05/bloomberg-education-plan-to-promote-charter-school-expansion/">indicated where he stands on federal K-12 funding</a>.</p>
<p>Funding increases of this scale would transform the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-role-in-education-has-a-long-history-74807">federal role in education policy</a>, making it easier for school districts to <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-gap-2018/">pay teachers higher wages</a> while <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-of-a-difference-does-the-number-of-kids-in-a-classroom-make-125703">reducing class sizes</a>. This focus on funding would mark a departure from previous administrations, which instead emphasized policies intended to increase <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">accountability</a> and strengthen <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">teacher evaluation</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=F8pdFSgAAAAJ&hl=en">school finance</a>, I study the role of resources in schools. The <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25368">research</a> is clear that <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20150249">spending more</a> <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/EDFP_a_00236">on students</a> over the long haul would bring about <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/131/1/157/2461148">long-term benefits</a>.</p>
<h2>Only 8%</h2>
<p>The federal government spends a total of about <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">$55 billion per year on K-12</a> education, in addition to outlays for <a href="http://nieer.org/state-preschool-yearbooks">early childhood</a> and post-secondary programs like loans and grants for <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2017/03/07/federal-support-for-higher-education-comes-from-spending-programs-and-the-tax-code">college tuition</a>. This amounts to around $1,000 per K-12 student and <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">just 8%</a> of the total $700 billion it costs to run the nation’s public schools, which are mostly funded by state and local tax dollars.</p>
<p>Federal funding has <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_235.10.asp?current=yes">never surpassed 10%</a> of total public school funding, except from 2010 to 2012 when the federal government sought to reduce the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/implementation.html">school spending cuts</a> <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/688011/summary">brought about during the Great Recession</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="W04p2" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/W04p2/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The federal government has historically exerted influence in non-monetary ways. For example, under the <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-role-in-education-has-a-long-history-74807">No Child Left Behind Act</a> of 2001, President George W. Bush’s administration relied on standardized tests to hold schools accountable for student achievement. Schools that failed to make yearly progress on test scores faced <a href="https://education.findlaw.com/curriculum-standards-school-funding/what-happens-when-a-school-fails-to-make-adequate-yearly-progress.html">serious repercussions</a>, such as replacing the school staff or reopening the school as a charter school.</p>
<p>Former President Barack Obama’s Education Department used <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> – under which states competed for federal grants through a point system – and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/nclb-waivers-timeline-and-glossary-of-terms.html">other initiatives</a> to get states to adopt a specific set of policies regarding teacher hiring, promotion and dismissal that the Education Department said would help schools employ better teachers overall.</p>
<p>Obama also signed the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> into law <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-every-student-succeeds-act-still-leaves-most-vulnerable-kids-behind-46247">in 2015</a>. It scaled back many of these policies and returned authority over accountability back to <a href="https://www.the74million.org/article/this-weeks-essa-news-maryland-releases-second-year-of-school-ratings-school-climate-surveys-emerging-as-accountability-measure-looking-ahead-to-reauthorization-more/">individual states</a>.</p>
<p>These initiatives have two things in common. All of them have been longer on mandates than money, and it’s unclear that any have worked. Some <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB10009-1.html">major studies</a> <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174001/">failed to find</a> substantial impacts and educators have <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_now/2019/10/most_states_have_walked_back_tough_teacher_evaluation_policies_report.html">largely opposed</a> using student test scores to drive high-stakes staffing decisions. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307279/original/file-20191216-124004-z29661.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Testing, testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Washington-Legislature/f206331a6ae14c048d718d5dc8dc8b2e/4/0">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Graphic concerns</h2>
<p>One source of opposition to increasing spending on public schools is a <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/blog/we-cant-graph-our-way-out-research-education-spending">now</a>-<a href="https://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/smart-guy-gates-makes-my-list-of-dumbest-stuff-ive-ever-read/">infamous</a> <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/04/13/why-the-school-spending-graph-betsy-devos-is-sharing-doesnt-mean-what-she-says-it-does/">graph</a> that traces the rise of this spending on a per-student basis over the past 40 years, while test scores have remained stagnant. The juxtaposition of these two trend lines, opponents of higher spending say, suggests that more funding is not the answer.</p>
<p>Versions of this chart often appear in <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/public-school-spending-theres-chart">libertarian</a>, <a href="https://www.alec.org/article/increasing-education-spending-equal-higher-test-scores/">conservative</a> and <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-gates-school-performance_b_829771">mainstream</a> outlets.</p>
<p>Education Secretary <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/04/13/why-the-school-spending-graph-betsy-devos-is-sharing-doesnt-mean-what-she-says-it-does/">Betsy DeVos tweeted</a> a version of the graph and later <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/statement-secretary-devos-2019-naep-results">declared</a> that the “gap between the highest- and lowest-performing students is widening, despite $1 trillion in federal spending over 40 years.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"984534888941604864"}"></div></p>
<p>I find DeVos’ statement and the graph she was talking about misleading.</p>
<p>A simple comparison of two trends does not necessarily mean that one causes the other. I also think this line of argument becomes potentially dangerous when policymakers use it to <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/07/what-the-republican-platform-says-about-education-215401">justify under-investing in public education</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year would <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2020/02/trump-slash-education-funding-merge-block-grant-charter-schools-title-I.html">reduce federal K-12 spending</a>.</p>
<h2>More spending on white kids</h2>
<p>The significant increase in Title I funding Sanders, Warren, Biden and other candidates propose could partly address a problem that all the leading <a href="http://schottfoundation.org/2020-presidential-forum-public-education">Democratic presidential candidates agree</a> requires urgent action: substantial <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102%2F0013189X16670899">funding</a> <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/688011/summary">inequities</a> in public schools.</p>
<p>Despite a widespread stated <a href="https://ccsso.org/resource-library/leading-equity-opportunities-state-education-chiefs">commitment to equity</a>, many states <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/resource/adequacy-and-fairness-state-school-finance-systems">actually spend less</a> in high-poverty school districts than in more affluent communities.</p>
<p>In addition, students of color attend schools that receive, on average, <a href="https://edbuild.org/content/23-billion">$2,200 less per student</a> from state coffers compared with the schools predominantly enrolling white students. </p>
<p>Of course, finding a way to pay for these spending increases through new tax dollars or cuts to other priorities would be a challenge. But there is probably no way to address the challenges facing the nation’s public schools that doesn’t involve significant increases in funding, targeted to places where most students are <a href="https://poverty.ucdavis.edu/faq/how-does-level-education-relate-poverty">growing up in poverty</a>.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/democratic-presidential-hopefuls-are-promising-to-ramp-up-funding-for-public-schools-123136">December 18, 2019</a>.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131739/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David S. Knight receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the W. T. Grant Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the American School Counselor Association.</span></em></p>Biden, Sanders, Warren and other candidates are calling for far more federal spending for schools in low-income areas.David S. Knight, Assistant Professor of Education Finance and Policy, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1277812019-12-02T03:27:48Z2019-12-02T03:27:48ZRick Perry’s belief that Trump was chosen by God is shared by many in a fast-growing Christian movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303779/original/file-20191126-112522-8zoxuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Energy Secretary Rick Perry speaks during an event about the environment at the White House on July 8, 2019, as President Trump looks on.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Trump/983581137fd24ea0b522ef8f45694afe/37/0">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/fox-news-rick-perry-trump-god-1473773">recent interview with Fox News</a>, Secretary of Energy Rick Perry stated that Donald Trump was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/11/25/rick-perry-under-scrutiny-his-ukraine-trip-says-trump-is-gods-chosen-one/">chosen by God</a> to be president. He said throughout history God had picked “imperfect people” such as King David or Solomon to lead their people.</p>
<p>Perry is not alone. A large number of evangelical Christians in the U.S. believe that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/25/why-evangelicals-like-rick-perry-believe-that-trump-is-gods-chosen-one">God has chosen Donald Trump</a> to advance the kingdom of God on Earth. Several high-profile religious leaders have made similar claims, often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/23/cyrus-prophecy-evangelical-support-donald-trump">comparing Trump to King Cyrus</a> who was asked by God to rescue the nation of Israel from exile in Babylon. </p>
<p>Many of these Christians are part of a movement that we call “Independent Network Charismatic,” or “INC Christianity” in <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-rise-of-network-christianity-9780190635671?cc=us&lang=en&">our 2017 book</a>. </p>
<p>Leaders such Rick Perry are connected to this movement. Eight years ago – in August of 2011 – more than 30,000 people cheered wildly when Perry, who was then a U.S. presidential candidate and Texas governor, came center stage at <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/us/politics/07prayer.html">“The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis”</a> at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Perry quoted from the Bible and preached about the need for salvation that comes from Jesus. Many of the leaders who organized this event are the <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/rick-perrys-army-of-god/">same leaders who claim</a> that Trump is God’s chosen to advance the Kingdom of God. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160799/original/image-20170314-10727-8j6dbl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Worshippers pray with Texas Gov. Rick Perry at Reliant Stadium in Houston in August 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We argue that INC Christianity is significantly changing the religious landscape in America – and the nation’s politics. </p>
<h2>Here is what we found about INC</h2>
<p>INC Christianity is led by a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/10/meet-evangelicals-prophesied-trump-win/93575144/">network of popular independent religious entrepreneurs</a>, often referred to by their followers as “apostles.” They have close ties, we found, to some conservative politicians, including Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry and more recently President Donald Trump. </p>
<p>Charismatic Christians emphasize supernatural miracles and divine interventions, but INC Christianity is different from other charismatics – and other Christian denominations in general – in the following ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>It is not focused primarily on building congregations but rather on spreading beliefs and practices through media, conferences and ministry schools.<br></li>
<li>It is not so much about proselytizing to unbelievers as it is about transforming society through placing Christian believers in powerful positions in all sectors of society. </li>
<li>It is organized as a network of independent leaders rather than as formally organized denominations.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Finding followers</h2>
<p>INC Christianity is the fastest-growing Christian group in America and possibly around the world. Over the 40 years from 1970 to 2010, the number of regular attenders of Protestant churches as a whole shrunk by an average of <a href="http://www.worldchristiandatabase.org/wcd/default.asp">.05% per year</a>, while independent neo-charismatic congregations, the category that includes INC groups, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=uUpIvgAACAAJ&q=world+christian+database#v=snippet&q=world%20christian%20database&f=false">grew</a> by an average of 3.24% per year. </p>
<p>Its impact, however, is much greater than can be measured in church attendance. This is because INC Christianity is not centrally concerned with building congregations, but spreading beliefs and practices. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160798/original/image-20170314-10759-1uentpx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bill Johnson, pastor of Bethel Church in Redding, California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/28648582@N02/5339151794/in/photolist-98NxPh-4tneYS-S2GSgh-eawUwM-eoHoPd-ejgZTH-oitEEP-dikQ7r-oog9to-7nw8Xj-nRzd1D-ejnPrY-jJBSDz-k9ZqHi-RV6sTA-8S1x6F-ejnN39-6Cms1L-RYFe9V-ib25u9-kfEnoJ-96RUcf-CWqNAW-fvChEL-8XsMEe-731ugM-dF1eoK-qsQST3-8XsMCv-eoCZnL-ejnN4j-eo4mek-4BtR7C-bn77Lk-epfYn7-6CgZYX-hCS4LN-gwv8T1-5uEKPN-hf1YHa-kPSkQF-7GuQC2-DPrSep-9Evhue-6Qm84y-4yXQFB-dF6E3L-6jYdJQ-otzCWr-QY7dMz">Kevin Shorter</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=O9c-DgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=google+pages+the+rise+of+network+Christianity&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju0f6HrdbSAhWLjVQKHZBNAAMQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=Table%205.1&f=false">influence of INC Christianity</a> can be seen in the millions of hits on <a href="http://www.gloryofzion.org/">many</a> <a href="http://wagnerleadership.org/">of their</a> <a href="http://www.ihopkc.org/">web-based</a> <a href="http://bethelredding.com/">media</a> <a href="http://www.gloryofzion.org/">sites</a>, large turnouts at stadium rallies and conferences and millions of dollars in media sales. </p>
<p>In interviews, leaders of Bethel, an INC ministry based in Redding, California, claimed to have had an income of US$8.4 million in media sales in 2013. This included music, books, DVDs and web-based content. Another $7 million came from tuition to the <a href="http://bssm.net">Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry</a>.</p>
<p>Sean Feucht, one of Bethel’s popular musicians and worship leaders, is <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-congress-worship-leader-sean-feucht">now running for Congress</a> in California’s Third Congressional District.</p>
<h2>Appeal of INC</h2>
<p>As part of our research, we conducted in-depth interviews with senior leaders, staff and current and former participants in INC Christian ministries. We also conducted supplementary interviews with Christian leaders and scholars with knowledge of the changing religious landscape and attended conferences, numerous church services, ministry school sessions, healing sessions and exorcisms. In all, we conducted 41 in-depth interviews. </p>
<p>Our primary conclusion is that the growth of these groups is largely the result of the informal way in which the network is governed. When compared to the oversight and accountability of formal congregations and denominations, the network allows for more experimentation. This includes “extreme” experiences of the supernatural, unorthodox beliefs and practices, and financing as well as marketing techniques that leverage the power of the internet.</p>
<p>We also witnessed the appeal of INC Christianity, particularly among young people. We saw the thrill of holding impromptu supernatural healing sessions in the emergency room of a large public hospital, the intrigue of ministry school class sessions devoted to the techniques of casting out demonic spirits and the adventure of teams of young people going out into public places, seeking direct guidance from God as to whom to heal or to relay specific divine messages. </p>
<h2>‘Seven mountains of culture’</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780060630560/the-religious-history-of-america">Most Christian groups</a> in America have seen the role of the church as connecting individuals to God through the saving grace of Jesus and building congregations that provide communities of meaning and belonging through worship services.</p>
<p>They also believe in serving and providing for the needs their local communities. Such traditional Christian groups believe that although the world can be improved, it will not be restored to God’s original plan until Jesus comes back again to rule the Earth. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160955/original/image-20170315-5354-11zimpi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lou Engle, an American Charismatic Christian leader.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/edenfrangipane/1036678093/in/photolist-2zBfhe">eden frangipane</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>INC beliefs, however, are different. Most INC Christian groups we studied seek to bring heaven or God’s intended perfect society to Earth by placing “kingdom-minded people” in powerful positions at the top of all sectors of society. These <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Invading_Babylon.html?id=GbqaZQS52gcC">“seven mountains of culture”</a> include business, government, media, arts and entertainment, education, family and religion. In this form of “trickle-down Christianity,” they believe if Christians rise to the top of all seven “mountains,” society will be completely transformed. </p>
<p>“The goal of this new movement is transforming social units like cities, ethnic groups, nations rather than individuals,” one INC leader we interviewed explained. “If Christians permeate each mountain and rise to the top of all seven mountains…society would have biblical morality, people would live in harmony, there would be peace and not war, there would be no poverty.” </p>
<p>We heard <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=yZ3MCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&lpg=PT4&dq=The+Seven+Mountain+Prophecy:+Unveiling+the+Coming+Elijah+Revolution+creation+house&source=bl&ots=gbaQ4lJKwj&sig=ty55USPoxz7n02hQ6b3frjUcG88&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwju-qGHqtbSAhWE3YMKHaX3DoAQ6AEIRjAI#v=onepage&q=The%20Seven%20Mountain%20Prophecy%3A%20Unveiling%20the%20Coming%20Elijah%20Revolution%20creation%20house&f=false">these ideas</a> repeatedly in most of our interviews, at events we attended and in INC media materials. </p>
<p>Most significantly, since the 2016 presidential election, some INC leaders have <a href="http://elijahlist.com/words/display_word.html?ID=17420">released public statements</a> claiming that the Trump presidency is part of fulfilling God’s plan to “bring heaven to Earth” by placing believers in top posts, including Perry, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson. </p>
<h2>Changing the landscape</h2>
<p>INC Christianity is a movement to watch. If it continues to draw adherents in large numbers in the future, as we predict, it will produce a growing number of Christians who see their goal not just as saving souls but as transforming society by taking control over its institutions.</p>
<p>While the Ukraine scandal, family separations at the border, and allegations of corruption have made some evangelical Christians <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2018/0618/Family-separation-Evangelicals-add-their-voices-to-opposition">question their support</a> of Donald Trump, most of those steeped in INC Christianity will never abandon their president. </p>
<p>To them, as we found, to oppose Donald Trump is to oppose God who chose him specifically to bring America and the world back to God. </p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a piece <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-christian-movement-is-growing-rapidly-in-the-midst-of-religious-decline-73507">first published on March 15, 2017</a>.</em> </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Christerson received funding from the John Templeton Foundation for this project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Flory received funding from the John Templeton Foundation for this project.</span></em></p>A Christian movement led by independent religious entrepreneurs, often referred to as ‘apostles,’ is changing the religious landscape of the US.Brad Christerson, Professor of Sociology, Biola UniversityRichard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1173702019-06-07T12:59:50Z2019-06-07T12:59:50ZSchool vouchers expand despite evidence of negative effects<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277465/original/file-20190601-69071-1qyi2gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, center, signs a bill that creates a new voucher program for thousands of students to attend private schools using taxpayer dollars.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Florida-Vouchers/4da58066057e460abfcd2219144bb557/1/0">Lynne Sladky/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past couple of decades, proponents of vouchers for private schools have been pushing the idea that vouchers <a href="https://www.mackinac.org/FMM1999-40">work</a>.</p>
<p>They assert there is a <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/public_interest/detail/the-surprising-consensus-on-school-choice">consensus</a> among researchers that voucher programs lead to <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/school-vouchers-raise-african-american-test-scores">learning gains</a> for students – in some cases bigger gains than with other reforms and approaches, such as <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/vouchers-and-test-scores">class-size reduction</a>.</p>
<p>They have <a href="https://jaypgreene.com/2008/08/21/voucher-effects-on-participants/">highlighted</a> studies that show the <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/school-vouchers-in-dc-produce-gains-in-both-test-scores-and-graduation-rates/">positive impact</a> of vouchers on <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/school-vouchers-raise-african-american-test-scores">various populations</a>. At the very least, they argue, vouchers <a href="https://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/voucher-challenge-2426.html">do no harm</a>.</p>
<p>As researchers who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KLVtdQYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">school choice</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jcvEv4AAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">education policy</a>, we see a new consensus emerging — including in pro-voucher advocates’ own studies — that vouchers are having mostly <a href="http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/LSP4-Policy-Brief-SCDP.pdf">no effects or negative effects</a> on student learning. As a result, we see a shift in how voucher proponents are redefining what voucher success represents. They are using a new set of non-academic gains that were not the primary argument to promote vouchers.</p>
<p>How success is defined is particularly important now in light of the fact that <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2019/0510/In-Florida-vouchers-win-ground-but-courts-may-have-ultimate-say">Florida</a> and <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/05/24/tennessee-governor-signs-school-voucher-bill_ap.html">Tennessee</a> – which are both <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/State_government_trifectas#Trifecta_status_by_state">controlled by Republicans</a> – have created new publicly funded voucher programs in May 2019. </p>
<p>In April, <a href="http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/LSP4-Policy-Brief-SCDP.pdf">a large-scale study</a> — conducted by <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/fuller-wolf-discuss-vouchers/">voucher advocates</a> — found substantial <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/04/23/do-voucher-scores-bounce-back-new-research-says-no/">negative impacts</a> for students using vouchers to attend private schools.</p>
<p>Certainly, other studies show a different kind of positive effect on the likelihood of a student <a href="https://www.urban.org/research/publication/effects-florida-tax-credit-scholarship-program-college-enrollment-and-graduation">enrolling and persisting in college</a>. Other studies also show that vouchers have <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174022/pdf/20174022.pdf">positive effects on perceptions of school safety</a>, and on <a href="https://news.uark.edu/articles/46318/researchers-report-link-between-school-voucher-program-and-reduced-crime-paternity-disputes">avoidance of crime</a> and <a href="https://news.uark.edu/articles/46318/researchers-report-link-between-school-voucher-program-and-reduced-crime-paternity-disputes">out-of-wedlock births</a>. But these goals were not what was used to advance vouchers.</p>
<h2>Vouchers being pursued politically</h2>
<p>In addition to states, Republicans are pursuing vouchers at the federal level as well. For instance, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos – along with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and eight of his fellow Republican senators – are pushing for a voucher-like plan to establish what they refer to as <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/trump-administration-unveils-plan-historic-investment-americas-students-through-education-freedom-scholarships">Education Freedom Scholarships</a>. The US$5 billion proposal would enable individual taxpayers and businesses to get dollar-for-dollar tax credits for contributions to “scholarship” organizations. Those organizations would then pass the money to families to use for private schools or other education related expenses for their children.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=653&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277467/original/file-20190601-69071-i9zt6b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talks with students in Nashville, Tenn., in April, as lawmakers voted to expand school vouchers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-Tennessee/46a62ee95f464c8f8828d9c79e43f5e3/2/0">Mark Humphrey/AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is a largely partisan divide in Congress concerning the District of Columbia school voucher program – a <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/chairmen-norton-request-documents-from-secretary-devos-on-dc-school-voucher">federally funded school voucher program</a> created <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/howvoucherscametodc/">under President George W. Bush</a>.</p>
<p>The program, which is authorized under the Scholarships for Opportunities and Results Act, has gotten more than <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/2019-03-29.EEC%20Scott%20Norton%20to%20DeVos-DoEd%20re%20SOAR%20Act.pdf">$200 million from Congress and served more than 10,000 children</a> since it began in 2004. It is set to expire in September.</p>
<p>House Democrats are <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/documents/2019-03-29.EEC%20Scott%20Norton%20to%20DeVos-DoEd%20re%20SOAR%20Act.pdf">looking for problems</a> with the D.C. voucher program. In response, Republicans are <a href="https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-05-30-JDJ-MM-to-DeVos-Dept.-of-Ed-re-SOAR-Act.pdf">seeking additional information</a> to back up the Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.ncpecoalition.org/trump-voucher-plan">proposal to double its funding</a>, from $15 million to $30 million, even though a <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174022/">2017 evaluation</a> of the program showed “<a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20174022/">negative impacts on student achievement</a>.”</p>
<h2>The voucher advocacy movement</h2>
<p>Given all the political interest in vouchers, it pays to revisit how there came to be such as disconnect between what the research shows about the negative impacts of vouchers and their popularity with policymakers.</p>
<p>Starting in the early 1990s, a <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1090254">voucher-advocacy movement</a> emerged to promote the idea that vouchers help students learn. Funded largely by pro-voucher philanthropies such as the <a href="https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/walton-family-foundation-pledges-6-million-for-private-school-vouchers">Walton Family Foundation</a>, <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/expanding-education-choices-vouchers-and-tax-credits-savings-accounts">think tanks</a>, such as Cato Institute and The Heritage Foundation, and advocacy <a href="https://ij.org/report/bulletproofing-school-choice/">organizations</a>, such as EdChoice, made concerted efforts to promote <a href="https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/school-choice-myths-and-realities-2nd-PRINTING-FINAL.pdf">proof</a> of the <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/research/the-abcs-of-school-choice/">effectiveness</a> of vouchers. The proof came in the form of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0895904808328532">a small set of studies</a> of voucher programs for poor children in a select set of cities. The studies were conducted by a <a href="https://static.newamerica.org/attachments/10118-market-forces/PetersonDots.d9ec33ad83b24dd0bd0560d9dfb2b636.pdf">group</a> of pro-voucher scholars often funded by those same philanthropies.</p>
<p>For example, a Harvard center funded by <a href="https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/sponsors_affiliates.htm">pro-voucher organizations</a>, disputed the official state evaluations of voucher programs in <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0013124599031002005">Milwaukee</a> and <a href="https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/newclvex.pdf">Cleveland</a> to argue that there were small but discernible achievement gains for voucher students.</p>
<p>More recently, teams from the University of Arkansas have been <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemcshane/2019/05/30/education-reformers-our-work-here-is-done/">claiming</a> that their studies show that vouchers almost always lead to learning <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/coreydeangelis/2018/01/30/untitled-n2441717">gains</a> for at least some students, do little if any <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/coreydeangelis/2018/01/30/untitled-n2441717">harm</a> to students, and provide all sorts of <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/private-school-choice-helps-students-avoid-prison-unplanned-pregnancies/">other benefits</a>. Among other things, they say that vouchers <a href="https://news.uark.edu/articles/46318/researchers-report-link-between-school-voucher-program-and-reduced-crime-paternity-disputes">reduce crime</a> and lead parents to become <a href="https://news.uark.edu/articles/24938/new-book-describes-how-school-vouchers-empowered-urban-families">more involved in civic life</a>. The media then <a href="https://www.albanyherald.com/news/cal-thomas-the-abc-s-of-school-choice/article_0da91e01-dba1-5e7d-9578-224d6419cea1.html">pick up these studies</a>.</p>
<p>But the latest research about vouchers calls into question the original, primary claims about their effectiveness.</p>
<h2>New evidence emerges</h2>
<p>Rigorous research on state-wide programs in <a href="https://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/FORDHAM%20Ed%20Choice%20Evaluation%20Report_online%20edition.pdf">Ohio</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pam.22086">Indiana</a> and <a href="http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/LSP4-Policy-Brief-SCDP.pdf">Louisiana</a>, as well as in <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20184010/pdf/20184010.pdf">Washington, D.C.</a>, shows large, negative impacts on academic achievement of students using vouchers compared to their peers who stayed in public schools. </p>
<p>Initial <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/06/26/533192616/school-vouchers-get-a-new-report-card?t=1559252451019">hopes</a> by some researchers and voucher advocates that these <a href="https://www.catholicleague.org/wall-street-journal-scores-on-school-choice/">losses would disappear</a> over time have <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2019/04/23/do-voucher-scores-bounce-back-new-research-says-no/">evaporated</a> as more recent follow-up studies show that the harm is <a href="http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/LSP4-Policy-Brief-SCDP.pdf">significant and sustained</a>.</p>
<p>Now that there is evidence that vouchers harm student learning, voucher advocates have changed their argument. They say <a href="http://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Do-Impacts-on-Test-Scores-Even-Matter.pdf">test scores</a> are not that important. Instead, they say policymakers should focus on other measures such as “attainment,” which entails things like the rate at which voucher students <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/04/24/louisiana-vouchers-have-led-to-big-drops-in-test-scores-but-they-also-might-boost-college-enrollment/">enroll in college</a>.</p>
<p>However, some of the most recent research finds that vouchers <a href="http://www.uaedreform.org/wp-content/uploads/Erickson-Mills-Wolf-LSP-Attainment_041719-final.pdf">don’t really lead to better college enrollment</a>, either.</p>
<h2>Bad choices</h2>
<p>While some advocates downplay the importance of test scores, others, such as <a href="https://www.hoosiertimes.com/herald_times_online/news/local/lighthouse-christian-academy-responds-to-concerns-over-its-admissions-policy/article_0677fbb4-93b8-5346-ac21-59aa56ce1285.html">DeVos</a> make the argument that vouchers are worthy simply because they give students and families expanded choice.</p>
<p>We believe student learning, the original reason vouchers were promoted, should remain the measure of success. While imperfect, few measures are as readily available to policymakers as test scores in evaluating education reforms. Moreover, advocates should be accountable for the <a href="https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/does-school-choice-work">results they said would occur</a> regarding learning gains. But instead, it appears they want to “<a href="https://nepc.info/newsletter/2018/05/review-goalposts">move the goalposts</a>” they themselves had set up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117370/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research over the past few years has shown vouchers for private schools set back student learning. So why are advocates still pushing so hard to expand them?Christopher Lubienski, Professor, Indiana UniversityJoel R Malin, Assistant Professor, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1145012019-04-03T10:48:35Z2019-04-03T10:48:35ZThe Trump administration’s attempts to defund the Special Olympics, explained<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267198/original/file-20190402-177163-1f9kr3z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Special Olympics basketball clinic in Charlotte, N.C. in January 2019</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Hornets-Special-Olympics-Basketball/6165f87233c3438995677b59fbd53705/3/0">AP Photo/Chuck Burton</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal government has long <a href="http://annualreport.specialolympics.org/financials">covered about a tenth</a> of the Special Olympics’ budget. This nonprofit that gives athletes with intellectual disabilities a chance to train and compete in a wide variety of sports gets most of the rest of its funding from charitable donations from <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/about/partners/">foundations</a>, <a href="https://resources.specialolympics.org/Topics/Research/Program_Research_Toolkit/Visibility___Corporate_Partnering.aspx">corporations</a> and <a href="https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Special-Olympics-Largest-Private-Donation-318639701.html">individuals</a>. It spent a total of roughly US$150 million in 2017, the most recent year for which information is available, with the federal government’s portion totaling $15.5 million.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s first three proposed budgets, for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 fiscal years, would have broken that formula. Instead of the usual arrangement, his first three draft spending plans called for <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/highschool/2019/03/26/betsy-devos-funding-cuts-special-olympics-warranted/39260497/">giving nothing at all</a> to the Special Olympics. </p>
<p>But for the upcoming fiscal year, the organization anticipates getting $17.6 million from Uncle Sam. That’s because Congress ignored the president’s proposed budgets and provided uninterrupted funding for the <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/trump-administrations-special-olympics-cuts-never-chance">Special Olympics</a> during the administration’s first two years. Now, Trump has disavowed his own proposed cuts. </p>
<p>Over the past several years, I have gained an increasing understanding of and appreciation for the Special Olympics through collaboration between the organization and American University, where I am a professor and direct the <a href="http://www.idppglobal.org/">Institute on Disability and Public Policy</a>.</p>
<p>Based on my scholarship about <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YqJKLwYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">disability policies</a> around the world, I believe that stripping the program of federal funding would undercut the organization’s work: empowering <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/about/our-mission">people with intellectual disabilities</a> by reducing the stigma and discrimination against them though their participation in sports.</p>
<h2>The Special Olympics</h2>
<p>This script changed abruptly when Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told the <a href="https://appropriations.house.gov/legislation/hearings/department-of-education-budget-request-for-fy-2020">House Appropriations Committee</a> in late March about proposed <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/28/18285360/betsy-devos-special-olympics-shriver-pocan">educational cuts topping $7 billion</a>, including ending all U.S. funding for the Special Olympics in the 2020 fiscal year.</p>
<p>Amid the <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/436216-kennedy-on-cuts-to-special-olympics-this-will-never-happen">bipartisan uproar</a> over DeVos’ proposed cuts, Trump changed his mind. He declared he personally opposed this line item from his own budget proposal. There’s a good reason for the fuss this budget debate stirred up: No other organization does what the Special Olympics does.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/about/eunice-kennedy-shriver">Eunice Kennedy Shriver</a>, a fierce defender of the rights of people with intellectual disabilities, founded the Special Olympics more than 50 years ago. Unlike the Olympics, which primarily holds global sports events every other year, the Special Olympics holds at least one competition somewhere in the world almost every day. Its year-round training and sports competitions serve over 5.7 million athletes in 174 countries worldwide, from <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/programs/latin-america/argentina">Argentina</a> to <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/programs/africa/zambia">Zambia</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7reDes9mQRg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Education Secretary Betsy DeVos refused to give any details about federal funding for the Special Olympics when she responded to questions from Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The role of philanthropy</h2>
<p>During her congressional testimony, DeVos did praise the Special Olympics. As she pointed out, she does support the organization with some of <a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/14/devos-education-donation/110430930/">the salary</a> that she – a <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a13086194/betsy-devos-net-worth/">billionaire</a> – has waived.</p>
<p>But she also said at first that the philanthropic support the organization gets renders federal funding for the Special Olympics unnecessary. “The Special Olympics is an awesome organization, one that is well supported by the philanthropic sector, as well,” she told <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/28/18285360/betsy-devos-special-olympics-shriver-pocan">Rep. Mark Pocan</a>, a Wisconsin Democrat.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.apnews.com/9e4bf2732b0744a98192c923ac19f38e">DeVos reversed course</a> in a subsequent statement. “I am pleased and grateful the President and I see eye-to-eye on this issue and that he has decided to fund our Special Olympics grant,” she said. “This is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years.”</p>
<p>Her staff now say they sought to restore the funds before the proposed cuts became contentious, and they blame efforts to get rid of the funds on the <a href="https://www.abc-7.com/story/40222169/wh-budget-office-not-devos-pushed-for-proposed-special-olympics-cuts-official-says">Office of Management and Budget</a>, a White House agency that administers federal spending.</p>
<p>DeVos was wrong when she initially said that the Special Olympics didn’t need federal funding because charity provides the money it needs. Federal funding covers a very specific Special Olympics initiative, its <a href="https://www.specialolympics.org/our-work/unified-champion-schools">Unified Champion Schools</a> program. The program uses sports as a foundation to build a climate of acceptance by having children with and without disabilities <a href="http://www.playunified.org">play sports together in schools</a>. This program promotes social inclusion for people with intellectual disabilities <a href="https://fusiontables.googleusercontent.com/embedviz?q=select+col6+from+1r7iMSTfn2-C_3__4eBDnyV6jyzh2dmXLjvvr22pt&viz=MAP&h=false&lat=45.940530610706396&lng=-59.62711314016417&t=1&z=3&l=col6&y=2&tmplt=3&hml=GEOCODABLE">across the country</a>.</p>
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<p>While philanthropic support does contribute to the Champion Schools program, especially at the local level, federal funding allows the headquarters organization to administer and oversee the program. </p>
<p>What might have happened without the media attention brought about by DeVos’ confrontations with lawmakers? It looks likely that Congress would have ignored this proposed cut for a third time. </p>
<p><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/436097-gop-senator-says-special-olympics-cuts-will-not-be-approved">Sen. Roy Blunt</a>, a Missouri Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee that manages this segment of the budget, says he is a strong supporter of the Special Olympics. He has promised to protect its funding. </p>
<p>What’s more, this is hardly the only line item in Trump’s draft budgets <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/03/11/donald-trumps-budget-calls-billions-more-border-wall/3072621002/">Congress has been ignoring</a>. Nor is this the first time lawmakers have pushed back against many White House spending priorities.</p>
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<h2>Abdicating global leadership</h2>
<p>This proposed cut is only one of many the Trump administration has seemed to make <a href="http://time.com/5168472/disability-activism-trump/">people with disabilities</a> a low priority. But to be sure, <a href="https://specialedshortages.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Budget-Cuts-Survey-Press-Release.pdf">it’s not the first time</a> these concerns have arisen. In 2013, for example, a budgetary impasse forced an estimated $600 million <a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/670/661444.pdf">reduction in special ed spending as part of the sequestration</a> process.</p>
<p>It’s also not the first time a White House has seemed insensitive about athletes with intellectual disabilities. President Barack Obama once <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=7129997&page=1">inappropriately joked about being bad at bowling</a> by comparing himself to Special Olympics contenders. The difference between what happened next is stark.</p>
<p>Obama immediately apologized personally to Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver.</p>
<p>In contrast, after the administration tried to cut the budget, Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/28/politics/devos-special-olympics-durbin/index.html">blamed his underlings</a> and tried to <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trumps-special-olympics-falsehoods-get-little-worse">take credit</a> for rescuing the Special Olympics funding that his own team jeopardized.</p>
<p>Current U.S. policies appear to be at odds with the nation’s historic role as a <a href="http://usicd.org/index.cfm/rightsnow">global leader</a> on disability rights. The United States was among the first countries in the world to pass legislation to support the multifaceted rights of people with disabilities, the landmark <a href="https://www.ada.gov">Americans with Disabilities Act</a>, or ADA, in 1990.</p>
<p>And American disability policies laid the foundation for and inspired the creation of the United Nations <a href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html">Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities</a>, a global treaty that 172 countries have ratified so far. The Obama administration signed the treaty but the Senate has not ratified it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derrick L. Cogburn has received funding from The Nippon Foundation of Japan to launch the Institute on Disability and Public Policy (IDPP) and create a masters program on comparative and international disability policy. American University has a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Special Olympics, and Dr. Cogburn coordinates that relationship.</span></em></p>The White House proposed these cuts for three years in a row. That clashes with longstanding bipartisan leadership regarding rights for all people with disabilities.Derrick L. Cogburn, Professor of International Service and Professor of Information Technology & Analytics at the Kogod School of Business, American University Kogod School of BusinessLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1077662018-11-29T11:38:13Z2018-11-29T11:38:13ZBetsy DeVos has little to show after 2 years in office<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247812/original/file-20181128-32180-577m8y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' policy proposals have failed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-For-Profits/8e85a766b31a4a3289c9cb3b1f356851/22/0">Matt Rourke/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Despite <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/opinion/betsy-devos-and-the-wrong-way-to-fix-schools.html?_r=0">widespread fear</a> that U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would dismantle the public system of education, she has failed to accomplish much of what she set out to do.</p>
<p>That is my assessment as an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=vK7qfnkAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">educational policy researcher</a> who has followed <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-betsy-devos-70843">Secretary DeVos</a> since she took the helm of the U.S. Department of Education in February 2017.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/devos-speech-shows-contempt-for-the-agency-she-heads-90424">DeVos’ objective</a> has been similar to that of her boss, President Donald Trump – and that is to rescind policies of the Obama administration.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/betsy-devos-6-month-report-card-more-undoing-than-doing-81793">While in office</a>, DeVos has endeavored to <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/02/trump_school_choice_initiative_who_can_apply.html">expand school choice initiatives</a> at the federal level, propose <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/02/12/devos-seeks-massive-cuts-from-education-department-to-support-school-choice/?utm_term=.e1c14757bd0c">major cuts</a> to the department that she oversees, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/25/education-department-is-failing-to-provide-public-service-loan-forgive.html">restrict access to public service loan forgiveness</a>. She has also sought to change the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-proposed-title-ix-rule-provides-clarity-schools-support-survivors-and-due-process-rights-all">standard of evidence</a> in sexual cases at institutions of higher education, and <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/31/2018-15823/student-assistance-general-provisions-federal-perkins-loan-program-federal-family-education-loan">limit oversight</a> of for-profit colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Let’s take a closer look at what DeVos has sought to accomplish during her nearly two years as education secretary.</p>
<h2>School choice</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos has long been an advocate for school choice in K-12 education. As education secretary, she has proposed that the federal government <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/02/trump_school_choice_initiative_who_can_apply.html">support school choice with federal money</a>. DeVos has advocated for legislation that redirects federal funds to school choice programs in which the funds would follow each individual child, rather than be directly distributed to school districts and states. She has also called for a new federal program that would give states money to give <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/03/betsy_devos_fights_democrats_on_vouchers_safety_civil_rights_in_budget_hearing.html">individual students grants</a> to attend private schools of their choice. Neither of these proposals were included in the budget passed in 2018. Although DeVos did not secure the US$500 million she had sought for school choice, she did secure a fraction of that amount – an additional <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-education/2018/09/14/inside-the-spending-deal-that-will-fund-the-education-department-340453">$58 million</a> for charter schools.</p>
<p>DeVos has also sought to push for school choice through <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/02/betsy_devos_education_savings_accounts_school_choice_military_families.html">education savings accounts for military families</a>. Education savings accounts have gained momentum in several states in the last five years. DeVos’ proposal would allow children of military families to take money that would have been given to a school where they were stationed, and choose a school where they prefer to send their children. Some military groups have <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/383807-devos-pushes-for-school-vouchers-for-military-families-despite-opposition">opposed this idea</a>, arguing that it would take away funding from other educational programs. Congress has not yet taken up this issue.</p>
<p>During her tenure, the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-12-15/tax-bill-could-hand-devos-first-major-school-choice-victory">tax code was changed</a> so that rich families can use college savings plans known as 529s to pay for private schools at the K-12 level.</p>
<h2>Cuts to the Education Department</h2>
<p>In her first year in office, Secretary DeVos proposed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptNTqF5zIxE">$9 billion or 13 percent cut</a> to the Education Department. She also proposed that $1 billion be redirected from other programs to promote private and charter schools. Some of the programs that she proposed cutting included: after-school programs for low-income students, funding for mental health services and college assistance for needy students. </p>
<p>Ultimately this plan was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/education/wp/2018/03/21/congress-rejects-much-of-betsy-devoss-agenda-in-spending-bill/?utm_term=.0ad6c739609e">largely ignored by Congress</a> with none of the proposed reforms enacted. In August, Congress actually <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/10/donald-trump-education-spending-increase-second-straight-year.html">increased the federal education budget by $581 million</a>. </p>
<h2>Public service loan forgiveness</h2>
<p>DeVos’ administration has been <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/25/education-department-is-failing-to-provide-public-service-loan-forgive.html">reluctant to honor the public service loan forgiveness</a> program. The public service loan forgiveness program was created to encourage graduates to take on public service jobs, such as a teacher, police officer or firefighter. After a public servant pays their loans for 10 years, the remaining portion is forgiven. Although the <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service">program</a> was enacted by Congress and signed by the President George W. Bush, the U.S. Department of Education has denied over 99 percent of those who have applied in the last two years. Most of the denials were over <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/10/17/653853227/the-student-loan-whistleblower">technicalities</a> as a result of poor management by third party loan managers. Loan forgiveness may become part of the agenda of the new Democratically controlled house, as was foreshadowed <a href="https://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-10-16%20Bicameral%20Oversight%20Letter%20to%20Ed%20Dept%20on%20PSLF%20Implementation.pdf">in a letter</a> signed by 150 Democratic House member asking DeVos for an explanation in October 2018.</p>
<h2>Borrower defense to repayment</h2>
<p>In June 2018, DeVos <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/07/31/2018-15823/student-assistance-general-provisions-federal-perkins-loan-program-federal-family-education-loan">tried to start a process</a> to undo Obama-era rules meant to hold for-profit colleges accountable for making false promises to students about their chances for graduation and gainful employment. The Obama administration <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-announces-path-debt-relief-students-91-additional-corinthian-campuses">outlined a plan</a> that students who were defrauded by these deceptive schemes would have their federal debt forgiven. </p>
<p>DeVos proclaimed the process as <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/court-rules-against-education-secretary-betsy-devos-in-for-profit-college-case/">“muddled” and “unfair”</a> and proposed changes that would make it more difficult to place blame on the for-profit colleges, which would have left many students with debt and little to show for their for-profit education. However, the proposed rule never materialized, and a federal judge <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/court-rules-against-education-secretary-betsy-devos-in-for-profit-college-case/">ordered DeVos</a> to comply with the Obama-era borrower protection rules. </p>
<h2>Campus sexual assault</h2>
<p>DeVos has made changing the way in which colleges and universities adjudicate sexual assault a top issue of her tenure. During the Obama administration, the Department of Education suggested that universities <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-09-26/new-title-ix-guidance-gives-schools-choice-in-sexual-misconduct-cases">change the standard of proof</a> when taking disciplinary action on students accused of sexual assault to a preponderance of evidence. The new rules <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-proposed-title-ix-rule-provides-clarity-schools-support-survivors-and-due-process-rights-all">proposed by DeVos</a> would require that all accused students be granted presumed innocence, due process provisions, and the right to question the accuser in a hearing. The new rules would also restrict the circumstances under which the preponderance of evidence standard could be used.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/31/devos-sexual-assault-investigation-changes/1157376002/">Critics claim</a> that this will create an atmosphere that is conducive to rape culture, keeping victims of sexual assault from seeking justice. DeVos argues that this will bring about a fair and uniform standard by which all colleges and universities will operate. <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-proposed-title-ix-rule-provides-clarity-schools-support-survivors-and-due-process-rights-all">A draft </a> of this proposal was released on Nov. 16, 2018, but has not yet been acted upon. Public comment is expected to be sought on the proposed rules.</p>
<h2>Resistance to agenda</h2>
<p>Other than the power of persuasion, the cabinet office of Secretary of Education has little power outside of carrying out federal law. When Betsy DeVos was confirmed in the cabinet post, <a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2016/12/how_betsy_devos_could_and_coul.html">some questioned</a> the degree to which she would be able to execute her agenda and persuade legislators.</p>
<p>Looking retrospectively at DeVos’ first two years in office, it appears that few of her major policy aims have been implemented. Considering the importance of Congress in approving federal provisions, it seems unlikely that DeVos will accomplish much more in the next two years, especially with control of the House of Representatives shifting to a Democratic majority during the midterm elections of 2018.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although many feared that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos would destroy public education, a review of the past two years shows that much of her policy agenda has failed.Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/928002018-03-26T10:48:21Z2018-03-26T10:48:21ZBetsy DeVos said Common Core was ‘dead’ – it’s not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211436/original/file-20180321-165568-1uodtpy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A COMMON</span> </figcaption></figure><p>In a <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-us-education-secretary-betsy-devos-american-enterprise-institute">speech</a> in Washington earlier this year, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos called the education standards known as the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core</a> a “disaster” and proclaimed: “At the U.S. Department of Education, Common Core is dead.”</p>
<p>The reality, however, is that the Common Core is still <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/11/13/even-when-states-revise-standards-the-core.html">very much alive</a>. As indicated in a recent <a href="https://www.achieve.org/strong-standards">report from Achieve</a>, 24 states have “reviewed and revised” their English and math standards under the Common Core. In some instances, such as in New York, the revised standards are known by a <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2017/09/11/common-core-no-more-new-york-moves-to-adopt-revised-standards-with-new-name/">different name</a>.</p>
<p>This is worth pointing out because, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uUXDvV4AAAAJ&hl=en">as a political scientist</a> and as I argue in <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/common-core">my new book</a>, the Common Core has soured many people on public education and civic life in general. When one group of people decides the national education standards, other people feel alienated from the schools and the democratic process. </p>
<h2>Criticism and praise</h2>
<p><a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/catalog/ac:201689">Many families oppose</a> the Common Core and have refused to allow their children to take the associated end-of-year tests such as the PARCC, SBAC, ACT Aspire, or New York State Common Core 3-8 English Language Arts and Mathematics Tests. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/11/math-showing-work/414924/">Critics argue</a> that Common Core math expects students to justify their answers in ways that are “unnecessary and tedious.” Others note that the standards <a href="http://harethedog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ZimbaMilgramStotskyFinal.pdf">will not prepare</a> many students to major in a STEM discipline in college. And for some <a href="https://danielskatz.net/2014/09/19/dear-common-core-english-standards-can-we-talk/">scholars</a> and parents, the “close textual reading” under Common Core makes learning a chore rather than a pleasure. </p>
<p>In 2013, then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the Common Core may “prove to be the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/duncan-pushes-back-attacks-common-core-standards">single greatest thing</a> to happen to public education in America since Brown versus Board of Education.” For Duncan and others, the Common Core <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards/">promised to prepare all students</a> to succeed in college, career and life.</p>
<h2>Waning support</h2>
<p>But that view did not align with popular support for the Common Core, which <a href="http://educationnext.org/the-2016-ednext-poll-including-10-year-trends-in-public-opinion/">dropped from 83 percent to 50 percent</a> between 2013 and 2016. For many parents and educators, the Common Core has made public education worse. </p>
<p>For critics such as author and former Assistant Secretary of Education <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/03/24/ravitch-the-best-reason-to-oppose-the-common-core-standards/?utm_term=.3d9113ac4a20">Diane Ravitch</a>, the Common Core is “fundamentally flawed” because of the way that the standards were developed. Common Core <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2009/07/national_standards_process_ign.html">work group members</a> included more people from the testing industry than experienced teachers, subject-matter experts or early childhood educators. According to some early childhood health and education professionals, the standards <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/29/a-tough-critique-of-common-core-on-early-childhood-education/?utm_term=.4d77034641f0">conflict with research</a> about how children learn and how best to teach them. </p>
<h2>What political opponents said</h2>
<p>When President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., stated that the Republican congressional majority had “<a href="https://www.help.senate.gov/chair/newsroom/press/alexander-the-republican-majority-kept-its-promise-to-repeal-the-federal-common-core-mandate">kept its promise to repeal</a> the federal Common Core mandate.” </p>
<p>As a candidate for president, Donald J. Trump tweeted how he had been <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/697613947655086080?lang=en">consistent in his opposition</a> to the Common Core and argued that the federal government should “Get rid of Common Core — keep education local!” </p>
<p>It seemed only a matter of time before many states moved away from the Common Core. </p>
<p>As of 2018, however, nearly every state that adopted the Common Core during the Obama administration has kept the <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/11/13/even-when-states-revise-standards-the-core.html">most important features</a>. Across the country, students will take <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/what-tests-does-each-state-require.html">end-of-year tests</a> that align with the Common Core. </p>
<h2>Why the standards are still here</h2>
<p>Alexander’s claim that Congress has repealed the Common Core mandate is misleading. The federal government has made it an expensive gamble for states to adopt education standards that differ from the Common Core. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Elementary%20And%20Secondary%20Education%20Act%20Of%201965.pdf">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, states that wish to adopt an alternative to the Common Core must now prove to the secretary of education that the standards are “challenging.”</p>
<p>According to the law, “each state shall demonstrate that the challenging state academic standards are aligned with entrance requirements for credit-bearing coursework in the system of public higher education in the State.” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bill-gates-pulled-off-the-swift-common-core-revolution/2014/06/07/a830e32e-ec34-11e3-9f5c-9075d5508f0a_story.html?utm_term=.c89b10890f92">Most states adopted</a> the Common Core as part of their <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">“Race to the Top”</a> applications during the Obama administration. Race to the Top gave an <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/executive-summary.pdf">incentive to states to align</a> high school graduation requirements and college entrance requirements with the new standards. States that keep the Common Core do not have to change anything to satisfy this provision. States that adopt new standards must prove to the secretary that high school graduates will be able to take credit-bearing courses as soon as they enter a public college or university. </p>
<p>In addition, the law requires states to adopt standards that align with “relevant State career and technical education standards.” The main Common Core reading standards are called the “<a href="http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/CCRA/R/">college and career readiness anchor standards</a>.” For states that want to meet this criterion of the law, the safest bet is to keep the Common Core. </p>
<p>States have a strong financial incentive to meet these criteria. The Every Student Succeeds Act directs approximately <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/statetables/19stbystate.pdf">US$22 billion a year</a> to states around the country, including over $700 million to Ohio, $1.6 billion to New York, $2 billion to Texas, and $2.6 billion to California. If a state <a href="https://legcounsel.house.gov/Comps/Elementary%20And%20Secondary%20Education%20Act%20Of%201965.pdf">fails to meet</a> any of of the requirements of the law, “the Secretary may withhold funds for State administration under this part until the Secretary determines that the State has fulfilled those requirements.” </p>
<p>Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2018/01/betsy_devos_essa_plans_approved_new_york.html">approved virtually all plans</a> that include the Common Core or a slightly modified version. According to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/11/13/even-when-states-revise-standards-the-core.html">Education Week</a>, even when states have revised the standards, “the core of the Common Core remains.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92800/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Tampio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite claims that the Common Core is a thing of the past, a closer look shows the controversial education standards are still very much in play. A political scientist explains why that’s a problem.Nicholas Tampio, Associate Professor of Political Science, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/932432018-03-12T17:51:30Z2018-03-12T17:51:30ZDeVos and the limits of the education reform movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/209947/original/file-20180312-30979-1xvip4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Betsy DeVos, shaking hands at a school choice rally shortly before she became education secretary in 2017</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-School-Choice/556a1f9c988d423db1a57a34fa67c3f9/2/0">AP Photo/Maria Danilova</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Betsy DeVos
exposed the education reform movement’s pitfalls in her highest-profile media appearance to date.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s education secretary got the job based on her years of advocacy for expanding “school choice,” especially in <a href="https://www.crpe.org/thelens/devos-detroit-choice">Michigan</a>, her home state. Yet she stumbled when Lesley Stahl asked her in a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/60-minutes/about-us/">widely watched</a> CBS “<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secretary-of-education-betsy-devos-on-guns-school-choice-and-why-people-dont-like-her/">60 Minutes</a>” interview to assess the track record for those efforts.</p>
<p>“I don’t know. Overall, I – I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better,” DeVos stammered.</p>
<p>It’s not just Michigan or Midwestern conservatives. Policymakers and philanthropists across the ideological spectrum and the nation have teamed up to reform public education for decades, only to find that their bold projects have fallen short. Regardless of the evidence, however, top-down reform remains the standard among politicians and big donors.</p>
<p>As an educational policy scholar, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">I have identified</a> a few reasons why school reform efforts so persistently get lackluster results, as well as why enthusiasm for reform hasn’t waned. Despite its <a href="http://www.pbs.org/makingschoolswork/hyc/bor/timeline.html">long-term failure</a>, large-scale education reform maintains consistent bipartisan support and is backed by roughly <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools">US$4 billion a year</a> in philanthropic funding derived from <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/11/plutocracy-bill-gates-philanthropy-washington-state/">some of the nation’s biggest fortunes</a>. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"972996794757140486"}"></div></p>
<h2>Shiny objectives</h2>
<p>DeVos may be a <a href="http://time.com/5053007/betsy-devos-education-secretary-2017-controversies/">uniquely polarizing figure</a>, but she is hardly the first federal leader to champion school reform. </p>
<p>Ever since 1983, when the Reagan administration published its “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a>” report bemoaning the quality of American public education, politicians have rallied public support for plans to overhaul the nation’s education system. Over the past quarter century, leaders from both parties have backed the creation of <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19492">curricular standards</a> and <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">high-stakes standardized tests</a>. And they have pushed <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-billionaire-charters-20170526-story.html">privately operated charter schools as a replacement for traditional public schools</a>, along with vouchers and other subsidies to defray the cost of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-marksjarvis-529plans/column-using-529-funds-to-pay-for-private-school-check-new-rules-idUSKBN1FD384">private school tuition</a>.</p>
<p>All of these large-scale school reform efforts, whether pushed by the federal government or backed by billionaire philanthropists including the families of Facebook co-founder <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/16/what-did-zuckerbergs-100-million-buy-newark-bit-progress/769536001/">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, Microsoft co-founder <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630">Bill Gates</a>, <a href="http://laschoolreport.com/eli-broad-giant-of-education-philanthropy-is-retiring/">homebuilder and insurance mogul Eli Broad</a>, <a href="http://cashinginonkids.org/brought-to-you-by-wal-mart-how-the-walton-family-foundations-ideological-pursuit-is-damaging-charter-schooling/">late Walmart founder Sam Walton</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/12/a-look-at-betsy-devos-charitable-giving-217695">DeVos herself</a> have encountered setbacks.</p>
<p>Still, the larger ethos of reform hasn’t changed. And none of the leaders of this effort, including DeVos, appear to be wavering in their efforts, even when <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/betsy-devos-60-minutes/index.html">challenged with evidence</a>, as happened during her cringe-inducing “60 Minutes” interview.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Former PBS NewsHour education correspondent John Merrow sums up his book ‘Addicted to Reform,’ which describes the pitfalls of the K-12 reform movement.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A cycle of failure</h2>
<p>From George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> to Barack Obama’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=ft">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> that was signed into law in 2015, the federal government has taken a highly interventionist approach to education policy.</p>
<p>But it has routinely failed to produce promised results. Today, educators, scholars and policymakers now almost universally regard No Child Left Behind as <a href="https://blog.ed.gov/2015/12/secretary-duncan-finally-a-fix-to-no-child-left-behind/">a washout</a>. And many critiques of Obama-era reform efforts have been equally <a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/dismal-failure-arne-duncans-race-top-program">blistering</a>. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the core approach to federal education policy has not markedly changed.</p>
<p>The chief reason that all this activity has produced so little change, in my view, is that the movement’s populist politics encourage reformers to make promises beyond what they can reasonably expect to deliver. The result, then, is a cycle of searing critique, sweeping proposal, disappointment and new proposal. The particulars of each recipe may differ, but the overall approach is always the same.</p>
<h2>Cookie cutters</h2>
<p>Beyond this dysfunctional cycle, the other big reason the school reform movement has consistently come up short has to do with an approach that is both too narrow and too generic.</p>
<p>Ever since 1966, when Johns Hopkins University sociologist <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/0400web/18.html">James S. Coleman</a> determined in his government-commissioned report that low-income children of color benefit from learning in integrated settings, most education researchers have agreed that economic inequality and social injustice are among the most powerful drivers of educational achievement gaps. What students achieve in a school, in other words, reflects their living conditions outside its walls.</p>
<p>Yet rather than addressing the daunting issues like persistent poverty that shape children’s lives and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/">interfere with their learning</a>, education reformers have largely embraced a management consultant approach. That is, they seek systems-oriented solutions that can be assessed through bottom-line indicators. This has been particularly true in the case of conservatives like DeVos, who even in her stand against the public education “system,” has proposed a new kind of system – <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399">school choice</a> – as a solution.</p>
<p>This approach fails to address the core problems shaping student achievement at a time when researchers like <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/sean-reardon">Sean Reardon</a> at Stanford University find that <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">income levels are more correlated with academic achievement</a> than ever and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rich-are-the-rich-if-only-you-knew-89682">gap between rich students and less affluent kids</a> is growing.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sean Reardon, a Stanford University professor, discusses the gap between how low-income and rich students perform academically.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, reformers of all stripes have tried to enact change at the largest possible scale. To work everywhere, however, education reforms must be suitable for all schools, regardless of their particular circumstances. </p>
<p>This cookie-cutter approach ignores educational research. Scholars consistently find that schools don’t work that way. I believe, as others do, that successful schools are thriving <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2012/02/06/a-new-model-schools-as-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> adapted to local circumstances. One-size-fits-all reform programs simply can’t have a deep impact in all schools and in every community.</p>
<h2>Entrepreneurial outsiders</h2>
<p>Perhaps this flawed approach to education reform has survived year after year of disappointing results because policy leaders, donors and politicians tend not to challenge each other on the premise that the ideal of school reform requires a sweeping overhaul – even though they may disagree about the best route. DeVos may be criticized for her dogmatic demeanor, but her approach is fairly mainstream in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/devos-education-nominees-code-words-for-creationism-offshoot-raise-concerns">most regards</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, many leading reformers generally subscribe to the ethos of <a href="http://www.thomastoch.com/wp/2011/education-entrepreneurs-on-the-potomac/">educational entrepreneurism</a>. They consider visionary leadership as essential, even when leaders have <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1706/1456">scant relevant professional experience</a>. That was the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-02-16/how-betsy-devos-compares-to-former-education-secretaries">case with DeVos</a> before she became education secretary. As outsiders operating within a complex system, however, reformers often fail take the messy real-world experiences of U.S. schools into account. </p>
<p>Finally, the reformers see <a href="https://thinkgrowth.org/100-leadership-entrepreneurship-quotes-e2164dd42f77">failure as an acceptable part of the entrepreneurial process</a>. Rather than second-guess their approach when their plans come up short, they may just believe that they placed the wrong bet. As a result, the constant blare of pitches and promises continues. And it’s possible that none of them will ever measure up, no matter the evidence.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This article incorporates elements of a story published on March 8, 2018, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a strategic partner of The Conversation US and provides funding for The Conversation internationally.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93243/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider's current work, on how school quality is conceptualized and quantified, has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Massachusetts State Legislature. He is the director of research for the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, which is working to build an alternate model for educational measurement and accountability.</span></em></p>The cycle of overpromising and disappointment has left donors, politicians and policymakers of all stripes looking to improve K-12 public schooling with an underwhelming track record.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, College of the Holy CrossLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/923272018-03-08T11:43:52Z2018-03-08T11:43:52ZWhy big bets on educational reform haven’t fixed the US school system<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208970/original/file-20180305-146655-wsrnt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">After years of claiming they want to fix what's wrong with public schools, education reformers are still hunting for solutions.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bored-girl-reading-tablet-elementary-school-388664521?src=HUmf6AMELNI8qkdthRy6XQ-1-2">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Gates Foundation is regrouping after its latest school improvement disappointment, but it’s not bowing out of the education reform business.</p>
<p>As the philanthropic powerhouse led by Bill and Melinda Gates explained in their latest annual letter to the public, it ended its effort to <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2018/02/teacher_evaluation_efforts_haven't_shown_results_bill_melinda_gates.html">overhaul teacher evaluation systems</a> after determining that these efforts were failing to generate intended results. </p>
<p>“We haven’t seen the large impact we had hoped for,” the <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/2018-Annual-Letter">Microsoft founder and his wife wrote</a> in the note they published in February. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208568/original/file-20180301-152590-c02qlm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bill Gates, speaking at the 2009 ‘Get Schooled’ conference his foundation co-sponsored.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Gates-Influence/d51045ef69414c65ba0c56960485448f/3/0">AP Photo/Jae C. Hong</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s a familiar storyline. Again and again, policymakers and philanthropists have teamed up to reform public education, only to find that their bold projects have fallen short.</p>
<p>Like other educational policy scholars, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d-pest4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">we have observed</a> this pattern for years. And we have identified a few reasons why school reform efforts so persistently get lackluster results, despite consistent bipartisan support and roughly <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/got-dough-how-billionaires-rule-our-schools">US$4 billion a year</a> in philanthropic funding derived from <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2016/04/11/plutocracy-bill-gates-philanthropy-washington-state/">some of the nation’s biggest fortunes</a>.</p>
<h2>Shiny objectives</h2>
<p>The Gates Foundation (which is a strategic partner of The Conversation US and provides funding for The Conversation internationally) poured <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2017/10/gates_ends_investment_in_teacher_evaluation_what_does_it_mean.html">at least $700 million</a> into upgrading teacher evaluation systems between 2008 and 2013, before quietly pulling the plug. The move echoed a similar about-face that occurred decade ago, when the funder acknowledged that the $2 billion it had spent on <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-plot-against-public-education-111630">making America’s large high schools smaller</a> hadn’t achieved the desired results.</p>
<p>But Gates is hardly the only major philanthropist to come up short. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan spent $100 million of their own money to improve the Newark school system, in an effort that attracted another <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/16/what-did-zuckerbergs-100-million-buy-newark-bit-progress/769536001/">$100 million from other donors</a>. Their goal in New Jersey, according to journalist Dale Russakoff, was to “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2015/09/21/442183080/assessing-the-100-million-upheaval-of-newarks-public-schools">develop a model for saving public education in all of urban America</a>.” The results, chronicled in Russakoff’s 2016 book “<a href="https://www.hmhco.com/shop/books/The-Prize/9780544810907">The Prize</a>,” were mixed at best. Though <a href="https://cepr.harvard.edu/evaluating-newark-school-reform">some education scholars have detected improvements</a> in Newark, and <a href="http://www.nps.k12.nj.us/press-releases/nps-parcc-results-show-continued-improvement/">test scores</a> have edged up since the experiment, it generally <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-newark-why-school-reforms-will-not-work-without-addressing-poverty-48212">failed to meet the funders’ lofty goals</a>.</p>
<p>Leaders in government have also been active in the school reform game. </p>
<p>Ever since 1983, when the Reagan administration published its “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">A Nation at Risk</a>” report bemoaning the quality of American public education, politicians have rallied public support for plans to overhaul the nation’s education system. Over the past quarter century, they have backed the creation of <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=19492">curricular standards</a> and <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html">high-stakes standardized tests</a>. And they have championed <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-meyerson-billionaire-charters-20170526-story.html">privately operated charter schools as a replacement for traditional public schools</a>, along with vouchers and other subsidies to defray the cost of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-marksjarvis-529plans/column-using-529-funds-to-pay-for-private-school-check-new-rules-idUSKBN1FD384">private school tuition</a>.</p>
<p>Along the way, reformers – those in government and the philanthropic world alike – have made big promises that American voters have often found <a href="https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/citizen-magazine/education/a-good-night-for-school-reform-march-2014">irresistible</a>, even though these grandiose proposals have tended to fall short.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Former PBS NewsHour education correspondent John Merrow sums up his book ‘Addicted to Reform,’ which describes the pitfalls of the K-12 reform movement.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not wavering</h2>
<p>Many other billionaires support education reform efforts, including the families of <a href="http://laschoolreport.com/eli-broad-giant-of-education-philanthropy-is-retiring/">homebuilder and insurance mogul Eli Broad</a>, <a href="http://cashinginonkids.org/brought-to-you-by-wal-mart-how-the-walton-family-foundations-ideological-pursuit-is-damaging-charter-schooling/">late Walmart founder Sam Walton</a> and <a href="https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-education/2016/12/a-look-at-betsy-devos-charitable-giving-217695">Education Secretary Betsy DeVos</a>. </p>
<p>Individually, their projects have differed. While Gates has favored small schools and teacher evaluation, Broad’s foundation has emphasized <a href="https://broadfoundation.org/the-broad-prize-for-public-charter-schools/">charter schools</a> and <a href="https://www.broadcenter.org/broad-academy/">training school superintendents</a>. Collectively, however, they have sought to transform the way schools look and operate.</p>
<p>All have encountered setbacks. Still, the larger ethos of reform hasn’t changed, and none of these billionaires appear to be wavering in their efforts.</p>
<p>For their part, lawmakers have been equally committed to large-scale reform. From George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml">No Child Left Behind</a> to Barack Obama’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/index.html">Race to the Top</a> and the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=ft">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> that he signed into law in 2015, the federal government has taken a highly interventionist approach to education policy. Educators, scholars and policymakers now almost universally regard No Child Left Behind as <a href="https://blog.ed.gov/2015/12/secretary-duncan-finally-a-fix-to-no-child-left-behind/">a washout</a>. And many critiques of Obama-era reform efforts have been equally <a href="https://www.alternet.org/education/dismal-failure-arne-duncans-race-top-program">blistering</a>. But the core approach to federal education policy has not markedly changed.</p>
<p>The chief reason that all this activity has produced so little change, in our view, is that the movement’s populist politics encourage reformers to make promises beyond what they can reasonably expect to deliver. The result, then, is a cycle of searing critique, sweeping proposal, disappointment and new proposal. Indeed, the Gates Foundation announced in October 2017 that it would carry on with its education reform efforts, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/10/19/gates-foundation-announces-new-17b-for-k-12.html">putting $1.7 billion</a> into new strategies to bolster K-12 education.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208971/original/file-20180305-146661-n8p42h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=536&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Betsy DeVos, shaking hands at a school choice rally a few weeks before she became education secretary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/DeVos-School-Choice/556a1f9c988d423db1a57a34fa67c3f9/2/0">AP Photo/Maria Danilova</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cookie cutters</h2>
<p>Beyond this dysfunctional cycle, the other big reason the school reform movement has consistently come up short has to do with an approach that is both too narrow and too generic.</p>
<p>Ever since 1966, when Johns Hopkins University sociologist <a href="http://pages.jh.edu/jhumag/0400web/18.html">James S. Coleman</a> determined in his government-commissioned report that low-income children of color benefit from learning in integrated settings, most education researchers have agreed that economic inequality and social injustice are among the most powerful drivers of educational achievement gaps. What students achieve in a school, in other words, reflects their living conditions outside its walls.</p>
<p>Yet rather than addressing the daunting issues like persistent poverty that shape children’s lives and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2528798/">interfere with their learning</a>, education reformers have largely embraced a management consultant approach. That is, they seek systems-oriented solutions that can be assessed through bottom-line indicators.</p>
<p>This approach fails to address the core problems shaping student achievement at a time when researchers like <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/sean-reardon">Sean Reardon</a> at Stanford University find that <a href="https://cepa.stanford.edu/content/widening-academic-achievement-gap-between-rich-and-poor-new-evidence-and-possible">income levels are more correlated with academic achievement</a> than ever and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-rich-are-the-rich-if-only-you-knew-89682">gap between rich students and less affluent kids</a> is growing.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sean Reardon, a Stanford University professor, discusses the gap between how low-income and rich students perform academically.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the same time, reformers have tried to enact change at the largest possible scale. To work everywhere, however, education reforms must be suitable for all schools, regardless of their particular circumstances. </p>
<p>This cookie-cutter approach ignores educational research. Scholars consistently find that schools don’t work that way. We believe, as others do, that successful schools are thriving <a href="https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/ny/2012/02/06/a-new-model-schools-as-ecosystems/">ecosystems</a> adapted to local circumstances. One-size-fits-all reform programs simply can’t have a deep impact in all schools and in every community.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for the Gates Foundation and their allies, successful K-12 reform probably requires abandoning this one-size-fits-all approach. That, however, is unlikely to happen. “We’ve learned a lot about what works in education, but the challenge has been to replicate the successes widely,” Bill and Melinda Gates wrote in <a href="https://www.gatesnotes.com/2018-Annual-Letter">their letter</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Bill Gates, discussing teacher quality in a 2009 TED talk.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Entrepreneurial outsiders</h2>
<p>Perhaps this flawed approach to education reform has survived year after year of disappointing results because policy leaders, donors and politicians tend not to challenge each other on the premise that the ideal of school reform requires a sweeping overhaul – even though they may disagree about the best route.</p>
<p>Additionally, many leading reformers generally subscribe to the ethos of <a href="http://www.thomastoch.com/wp/2011/education-entrepreneurs-on-the-potomac/">educational entrepreneurism</a>. They consider visionary leadership as essential, even when leaders have <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/ojs/article/view/1706/1456">scant relevant professional experience</a>. That was the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/articles/2017-02-16/how-betsy-devos-compares-to-former-education-secretaries">case with DeVos</a> before she became President Donald Trump’s education secretary and it seems to be true of <a href="https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/g13733977/laurene-powell-jobs-facts/">Laurene Powell Jobs</a>. The widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, a <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Laurene_Powell_Jobs">supporter of the Democratic Party</a> who worked on Wall Street before starting a family, is now out to <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/10/laurene-powell-jobss-mission-to-disrupt-high-school.html">revamp</a> American high schools. As outsiders operating within a complex system, however, reformers often fail take the messy real-world experiences of U.S. schools into account. </p>
<p>Finally, the reformers see <a href="https://thinkgrowth.org/100-leadership-entrepreneurship-quotes-e2164dd42f77">failure as an acceptable part of the entrepreneurial process</a>. Rather than second-guess their approach when their plans come up short, they may just believe that they placed the wrong bet. As a result, the constant blare of pitches and promises continues. And it’s possible that none of them will ever measure up.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92327/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jack Schneider's current work, on how school quality is conceptualized and quantified, has been supported by the Spencer Foundation and the Massachusetts State Legislature. He is the director of research for the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment, which is working to build an alternate model for educational measurement and accountability.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Menefee-Libey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The cycle of overpromising and disappointment has left donors, politicians and policymakers looking to improve K-12 public schooling with an underwhelming track record.Jack Schneider, Assistant Professor of Education, College of the Holy CrossDavid Menefee-Libey, Professor of Politics, Coordinator of Program in Public Policy Analysis, Pomona CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/904242018-01-21T23:14:39Z2018-01-21T23:14:39ZDeVos speech shows contempt for the agency she heads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202651/original/file-20180119-110100-d24o3q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wipes her brow during an October 2017 appearance in Bellevue, Wash.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Education-Secretary-Protests/80149b81ef2e4537b6cf9add38ccb1c6/25/0">AP/Ted S. Warren</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke at the American Enterprise Institute on Jan. 16, she began by emphasizing her role as an outsider.</p>
<p>“Outside Washington. Outside the LBJ building,” she said of the department’s headquarters in the nation’s capital. “Outside ‘the system.’”</p>
<p>“Some have questioned the presence of an outsider in the Department of Education,” DeVos conceded. “But, as it’s been said before, maybe what students need is someone who doesn’t yet know all the things you ‘can’t do.’”</p>
<p>She had scarcely a good word to say about previous efforts at the Education Department. Asked what lessons could be learned from the school reforms of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, DeVos suggested very little.</p>
<p>“We need to be honest with ourselves,” DeVos said. “The bottom line is simple: Federal education reform efforts have not worked as hoped.” </p>
<p>Finding little to praise, the staunch school-choice proponent instead blamed the department and the politicians who have overseen it for wasting billions of taxpayer dollars while leaving students unprepared.</p>
<p>Whether her analysis is on point or off base is a matter of debate. What is clear is that her anti-Washington rhetoric represents a radical departure from that of previous education secretaries. It also puts her at odds with her own department.</p>
<p>I make this observation as one who has studied the public comments of education secretaries going back to the founding of the education department as it exists today. I have also <a href="http://communication.unt.edu/sites/communication.unt.edu/files/CV%20-%20Hlavacik%20-%202016.2.pdf">written extensively</a> about how education is discussed in the public discourse. My writings include a 2016 book titled <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED568745">“Assigning Blame: The Rhetoric of Education Reform.” </a></p>
<h2>Embattled from the start</h2>
<p>From its founding in 1979, the Department of Education has been the subject of political attacks. For example, Ronald Reagan campaigned on the <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ684842.pdf">total elimination</a> of the department when he defeated President Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election.</p>
<p>Subsequently, education secretaries have often embraced the embattled rhetoric leaders use when the odds are long. It is a speaking style meant to rally the troops, so to speak. It is also meant to inspire a skeptical public by stressing the besieged condition of education in general and the Department of Education in particular.</p>
<p>For example, shortly after taking office, the first secretary of education, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/secretary-of-education/shirley-hufstedler.html">Shirley Hufstedler</a>, told an assembly of departmental staff: “Not only do we face enormous challenges of policy and organization, we face widespread doubt as to whether a Department of Education is a good idea. Frankly, there are many who expect us to fail.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202650/original/file-20180119-110087-1j52e9e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Shirley M. Hufstedler is sworn in as the nation’s first secretary of education by Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, in Washington on Dec. 6, 1979. President Jimmy Carter, left, looks on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-DC-USA-APHS360280-President-Jimmy-Carter/c1f87b414f8a405a8fec94e6e2d45434/2/0">AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>According to Hufstedler, the new department could succeed by “meeting our responsibilities and confounding our critics.” Her successor, <a href="https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1996/07/10/40bell.h15.html">Terrel Bell</a>, convened the National Commission on Excellence in Education. That commission issued the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html">“A Nation at Risk”</a> report. The report compared the mediocre performance of education in the United States as being similar to an “act of war.”</p>
<p>More recently, during the George W. Bush administration, Secretary <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/spellings-bio.html">Margaret Spellings</a> put together the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/index.html">Commission on the Future of Higher Education</a>. That commission positioned the Education Department as the savior of a higher education system that was “<a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/final-report.pdf">threatened</a> by global competitiveness pressures, powerful technological developments, restraints on public finance, and serious structural limitations that cry out for reform.”</p>
<h2>Scorning ‘self-styled experts’</h2>
<p>For each of these secretaries, the threat was external. By positioning herself as an outsider, Secretary DeVos has flipped that particular script. Instead of describing a perilous educational landscape that the education experts in her department should seek to reshape, DeVos insists that “those closest to the problem are always better able to solve it” — her way of emphasizing local control of education. To clarify her contempt for solutions from Washington, she added: “Washington bureaucrats and self-styled education ‘experts’ are about as far removed from students as you can get.”</p>
<p>In her critique, she stated that the Bush administration emphasized No Child Left Behind’s “sticks” and the Obama administration emphasized its “carrots.” However, she said both embraced a “false premise: that Washington knows what’s best for educators, parents and students.” According to DeVos, this false premise taints the entire history of the department she now leads.</p>
<p>Looking back further, DeVos characterized Bill Clinton’s <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/legislation/GOALS2000/TheAct/index.html">Goals 2000</a>, George H. W. Bush’s <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED327985">America 2000</a>, the “A Nation at Risk” report released under Ronald Reagan, and even the founding of the Department of Education by Jimmy Carter, as just “a new coat of paint on the same old wall.”</p>
<p>Although DeVos sought to temper her message by insisting that she had not come to “impugn anyone’s motives,” her descriptions of the educational bureaucracy were derisive. For instance, she called defenders of the federal role in education “chicken littles” and “sycophants.”</p>
<p>By positioning herself on the outside — outside of Washington, outside of the education’s community of experts, outside of education politics as usual — Secretary DeVos has succeeded in distinguishing herself from her predecessors. However, she has also positioned herself as one of the Department of Education’s strongest critics.</p>
<p>The question is: Can she parlay her proud outsider role to successfully run a department that has been besieged from the day it began?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Hlavacik does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s anti-Washington rhetoric represents a radical departure from that of previous education secretaries.Mark Hlavacik, Assistant Professor of Communication Specializing in Education Policy, University of North TexasLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/900842018-01-15T16:35:09Z2018-01-15T16:35:09ZWhat we can learn from closure of charter school that DeVos praised as ‘shining example’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201838/original/file-20180114-101508-11c46m0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">First lady Melania Trump, Queen Rania of Jordan and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos talk with students at the Excel Academy Public Charter School last April. Principal Dana Bogle, on left.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Melania-Trump-Jordan/a83f0c02b59345fa98f6991aae7eed86/1/0">AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and first lady Melania Trump visited Excel Academy Public Charter School last spring, DeVos praised the school as a “<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-education-betsy-devos-issues-statement-visit-excel-academy-first-lady-melania-trump-and-queen-rania-jordan">shining example</a> of a school meeting the needs of its students, parents and community.” Melania Trump called the charter school “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/readout-first-lady-melania-trumps-visit-excel-academy-public-charter-school-queen-rania-jordan/">an exceptional example</a> of a school preparing young women both academically and personally so that they may succeed in a global community.”</p>
<p>The visit made <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/whats-melania-trump-doing-now-first-lady-visited-dc-charter-school-queen-rania-jordan-2521614">international headlines</a> due to the fact that it also featured Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan. In terms of publicity, a school could not ask for a better platform.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we now know the praise the school got during its brief time on the world stage did not match its poor performance.</p>
<p>On Jan. 11, the DC Public Charter School Board voted unanimously, 6-0, to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/city-charter-board-votes-to-shut-down-dcs-only-all-girls-public-school/2018/01/12/a3a6176e-f7b8-11e7-beb6-c8d48830c54d_story.html?utm_term=.8b7f756e069a">shut down</a> the Pre-K-8, all-girls school at the end of the current school year. The board action wasn’t because of some sudden turn of events after Secretary DeVos, Melania Trump and Queen Raina paid their visit. Instead, <a href="http://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/board-votes-close-excel-academy-pcs">records show</a>, it was because the “trend for student performance over the past several years has been negative, despite any benefits that may have occurred from learning in an all-girl setting.”</p>
<p>Excel Academy charter school now joins the 200 to 300 charter schools that are <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">shut down</a> each year across the nation due to poor performance, financial shortcomings and low enrollments.</p>
<p>The Excel case magnifies how the cost of charter school failure is born by parents and their children, communities, educators and local residents. Indeed, many of the 700 or so girls who currently attend Excel must now scramble to find another school by next fall.</p>
<p>The closure of Excel represents a prime opportunity to focus on what we know about school choice and to move the discussion beyond ideological and partisan debates.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/201840/original/file-20180114-101518-vousr0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">First lady Melania Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speak with student Michelle McCord, 13, during their visit to the Excel Academy Public Charter School in Washington, in April 2017. The visit was meant to highlight the Trump administration’s focus on school choice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Melania-Trump/d34e3d378dc1481689fdd2651894b027/5/0">(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is particularly crucial since between fall 2004 and fall 2014, overall public charter school enrollment increased from 900,000 to 2.7 million students. During this same period, the percentage of public school students who attended charter schools increased from 2 to 5 percent, and the percentage of all public schools that were charter schools increased from 4 to 7 percent. In addition to increasing in number, public charter schools have also generally <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=30">increased in enrollment size over the last decade.</a></p>
<p>In 2017, the number of students enrolled in charter schools <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">surpassed 3 million nationwide</a> and the number of charter schools <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/sites/default/files/migrated/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/EER_Report_V5.pdf">reached 6,900</a>. </p>
<p>This past September, the U.S. Department of Education <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-department-education-awards-253-million-grants-expand-charter-schools">awarded US$253 million in grants</a> through the <a href="https://innovation.ed.gov/what-we-do/charter-schools/state-entities/">Expanding Opportunity Through Quality Charter Schools Program to states and nonprofit charter management organizations.</a> This level of funding is consistent with the level of federal support for charter schools in previous years.</p>
<p>Given all these developments, there is no better time for an honest discussion about what the research shows about charter school performance.</p>
<p>As the author of <a href="https://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/bio/claire-smrekar">several books on school choice</a> and a researcher who is currently examining the impact of choice policies on families, schools and neighborhoods, there are five points I would highlight that are based on the research on charter schools.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The performance of charter schools as a whole <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/CGAR%20Growth%20Volume%20I.pdf">varies widely</a>. This is the most consistent finding across charter school evaluations. It serves to heighten the importance of continuous monitoring of how charters are authorized – and how they perform – as the number of charter schools continue to multiply across the nation.</p></li>
<li><p>Similarly, the impact of charter middle schools on student achievement is a mixed bag based on various factors. In other words, you can’t say charter middle schools are better or worse than traditional public schools. It all depends. One <a href="https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20104029/pdf/20104030.pdf">study</a> examined student performance in 36 charter middle schools across 15 states, and found that charter schools were “neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior, and school progress.” The study also found that “charter schools serving more low income or low achieving students had statistically significant positive effects on math test scores, while charter schools serving more advantaged students – those with higher income and prior achievement – had significant negative effects on math test scores.”</p></li>
<li><p>The first three years of charter schools <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/pdfs/CGAR%20Growth%20Volume%20I.pdf">predict</a> academic performance, financial viability and sustainability. In other words, it’s pretty much do or die for new charter schools. This finding underscores the need to be proactive. It suggests charter authorizers should work with new charter schools at the start – actually, well before the doors open. The proactive approach stands in stark contrast to a “wait to fail” posture where a school lingers and lurches toward the final days of operation. Is this educational malpractice? Maybe so.</p></li>
<li><p>The overall performance of charter schools has <a href="https://credo.stanford.edu/documents/NCSS%202013%20Final%20Draft.pdf">increased</a> between 2009 and 2013. This increase was driven in part by the presence of more high-performing charters and the closure of low-performing charter schools. Thus, while the recent decision to close Excel may be unfortunate for its students, it might ultimately be good for the overall quality and performance of the public charter school sector as a whole.</p></li>
<li><p>Students who attend charter high schools are more likely to graduate than students who attend traditional public high schools. They are also more likely go to college and earn a higher income. “Maximum annual earnings were approximately $2,300 higher for 23- to 25-year-olds who attended charter high schools versus conventional public schools across the state of Florida,” concluded one recent <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.21913/epdf?r3_referer=wol&tracking_action=preview_click&show_checkout=1&purchase_referrer=onlinelibrary.wiley.com&purchase_site_license=LICENSE_DENIED_NO_CUSTOMER">study</a> conducted by Vanderbilt University, Mathematica and Georgia State University.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As new charter schools continue to open at a rapid pace while others are shut down, charter school operators and supporters should pay close attention to what took place at Excel, which first opened its doors in <a href="https://excelpcs.org/">2008</a>. This is particularly true for new charter schools that may be struggling academically.</p>
<p>Darren Woodruff, chair of the DC Public Charter School Board, explained how many of the steps that Excel planned to take to turn things around were too little too late.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/board-votes-close-excel-academy-pcs">written statement</a>, Woodruff said Excel’s recent changes – including the planned addition of a chief academic officer and a school turnaround plan – all represent “welcome steps that ideally would have been implemented when the first indications of decreased student performance became evident.”</p>
<p>“However,” Woodruff said, “without these steps more fully in place and clear data on their impact, this Board lacks convincing evidence that Excel represents the best opportunity for these young girls that we all care so much about.”</p>
<p>The lesson for charter school leaders and advocates is that these kinds of things need to be in place on day one. This is especially important since the research shows the first three years of a charter school are so crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Smrekar receives funding from US Dept of Education.
In 2006-08, I was an Investigator with the IES-funded National Center on School Choice at Vanderbilt University, which involved research on charter schools and magnet schools.</span></em></p>Education Secretary Betsy DeVos once called Excel Academy Public Charter School a ‘shining example.’ A Vanderbilt scholar explains why that description was woefully off target.Claire Smrekar, Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/868242017-11-05T23:31:28Z2017-11-05T23:31:28ZDemocracy on life support: Donald Trump’s first anniversary<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193668/original/file-20171107-6722-1h0aan7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1410%2C0%2C2814%2C2077&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump raises his glass in a toast at the start of a dinner in Seoul, South Korea. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Donald Trump was elected president of the United States a year ago today.</p>
<p>His ascendancy in American politics has made visible a culture of cruelty, a contempt for civic literacy, a corrupt mode of governance and a disdain for informed judgment that has been decades in the making. </p>
<p>It also points to the withering of civic attachments, the undoing of civic culture, the decline of public life, the erosion of any sense of shared citizenship and the death of commanding visions.</p>
<p>As he visits Asia this week in a trip that those in the White House, as usual, <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/01/trump-asia-trip-korea-china-244398?lo=ap_c1">feared</a> could careen spectacularly off the rails, the world is once again witnessing how Trump’s history of unabashed racism and politics of hate is transformed into a spectacle of fear, divisions and disinformation. </p>
<p>Under Trump, the plague of mid-20th century authoritarianism and apocalyptic populism have returned in a unique American form. A year later, people in Asia and the rest of the world are watching, pondering how such a dreadful event and retreat from democracy could have taken place.</p>
<p>How could a liberal society give up its ideals so quickly? What forces have undermined education to the extent that a relatively informed electorate allowed such a catastrophe to happen in an alleged democracy? </p>
<p>George Orwell’s <a href="http://humansarefree.com/2013/01/what-means-war-is-peace-freedom-is.html">“ignorance is strength”</a> motto in <em>1984</em> has materialized in the Trump administration’s attempts not only to rewrite history, but also to obliterate it. What we are witnessing is not simply politics but also a reworking of the very meaning of education both as an institution and as a broader cultural force.</p>
<p>Trump, along with Fox News, Breitbart and other right-wing cultural institutions, echoes one of totalitarianism’s most revered notions: That truth is a liability and ignorance a virtue. </p>
<p>As the distinction between fact and fiction is maligned, so are the institutions that work to create informed citizens. In Trump’s post-truth and alternative-facts world view, nothing is true, making it difficult for citizens to criticize and hold power accountable. </p>
<h2>Education viewed with disdain</h2>
<p>Education and critical thinking are regarded with disdain and science is confused <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/gwyneth-paltrows-goop-wins-award-for-worst-pseudoscience-of-the-year/">with pseudo-science.</a> All traces of critical thought appear only at the margins of the culture as ignorance becomes the primary organizing principle of American society. </p>
<p>For instance, two thirds of the American public believe that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/us/teaching-of-creationism-is-endorsed-in-new-survey.html?_r=0">creationism should be taught in schools</a> and <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pg5zqg/a-guide-to-the-climate-change-deniers-in-congress">more than half of Republicans in Congress</a> do not believe that climate change is caused by human activity. Shockingly, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center, only <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/online/new-survey-only-a-quarter-of-americans-can-name-all-three-branches-of-government/">26 per cent of Americans</a> can name all three branches of government. </p>
<p>In addition, a majority of Republicans believe that former President Barack Obama <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/252393-poll-majority-of-republicans-thinks-obama-is-a-muslim">is a Kenyan-born Muslim</a>, a belief blessedly skewered upon Trump’s arrival a few days ago in Hawaii, Obama’s birthplace. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"926831679666249730"}"></div></p>
<p>Such ignorance on behalf of many Americans, Republicans and Trump supporters operates with a vengeance when it comes to higher education. </p>
<p>Higher education is being defunded, corporatized and transformed to mimic Wal-Mart-esque labour relations by the Trump administration under the preposterous ill-leadership of a <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary/">religious fundamentalist, Betsy DeVos.</a> It’s also, according to a recent poll, viewed by most Republicans as being <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2017/07/10/sharp-partisan-divisions-in-views-of-national-institutions/">“bad for America.”</a> Higher education <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/republicans-believe-college-education-bad-america-donald-trump-media-fake-news-634474">is at odds</a> with Trump’s notion of making America great again.</p>
<p>This assault on higher education is accompanied by a systemic culture of lies that has descended upon America. The notion that democracy can only function with an informed public is viewed with disdain. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/News/world/americas/jared-kushner-donald-trump-lied-base-stupid-voters-supporters-president-son-in-law-white-house-a7764791.html">Trump apparently rejoices in his role as a serial liar</a>, knowing that the public is easily seduced by exhortation, emotional outbursts and sensationalism.</p>
<h2>Americans over-stimulated</h2>
<p>The corruption of the truth, education and politics is abetted by the fact that Americans have become habituated to overstimulation, a culture of immediacy and live in an ever-accelerating overflow of information and images. Experience no longer has the time to crystallize into mature and informed thought.</p>
<p>Popular culture as an educational force delights in spectacles of shock and violence. Defunded and stripped of their role as a public good, many institutions extending from higher education to the mainstream media are now harnessed to the demands and needs of corporations and the financial elite. </p>
<p>In doing so, they are snubbing reason, thoughtfulness and informed arguments.</p>
<p>Governance, meantime, is now replaced by the irrational Twitter bursts of an impetuous four-year-old trapped in the body of an adult.</p>
<p>The high priest of caustic rants, Trump’s insults and bullying behaviour have become a principal force shaping his language, politics and policies. He has used language as a weapon to humiliate just about anyone who opposes him. He has publicly humiliated and insulted a disabled reporter along with members of his own cabinet, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, undermining their respective ability to do their jobs. </p>
<p>More recently, he has mocked Sen. Bob Corker’s height, referring to him on Twitter as “Liddle Bob Corker” because <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/15/politics/bob-corker-donald-trump-timeline-relationship/index.html">the senator criticized him</a> in announcing his resignation.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"922830229525225477"}"></div></p>
<p>Ignorance is a terrible wound when it is self-inflicted. Trump’s lies, lack of credibility, lack of knowledge and unbridled narcissism have suggested for some time that he lacks the intelligence, judgment and capacity for critical thought necessary to occupy the presidency of the United States. </p>
<p>But when accompanied by his childish temperament, his volatile impetuousness, his disdain for higher education and a world view that reduces everyone else to friends or enemies, loyalists or traitors, his ignorance puts lives at risk.</p>
<h2>Governing via wilful ignorance?</h2>
<p>Trump’s presidency is forcing us to deal with a kind of nihilistic politics in which the search for truth and justice, moral responsibility, civic courage and an informed and thoughtful citizenry are rapidly disappearing.</p>
<p>Government in the United States now apparently runs on wilful ignorance as the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/30/16572350/climate-change-health-heat-waves-extreme-weather-infectious-diseases">planet heats up,</a> pollution increases and people die. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193109/original/file-20171102-26448-10lkq0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">South Korean protesters stage a rally against a planned visit by U.S. President Donald Trump near U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea last week.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Evidence is detached from argument. Science is a subspecies of fake news, and alternative facts are as important as the truth. As language is emptied of meaning, standards of proof disappear, verification becomes the enemy of power, and evidence is relegated to just another opinion. </p>
<p>Trump has sucked all of the oxygen out of democracy and has put in play a culture and mode of politics that kills empathy, wallows in cruelty and fear and mutilates democratic ideals. </p>
<p>Anyone who communicates intelligently is now part of the fake news world that Trump has invented, a world in which all truth is mobile and every form of communication starts to look like a lie. </p>
<p>Impetuousness and erratic judgment have become central to Trump’s leadership, one that is as ill-informed as it is unstable. As he marks the anniversary of his election while in Asia this week, he’ll no doubt reinforce how governance can collapse into a theatre of self-promotion, absurdity and a dark and frightening view of the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86824/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Giroux does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>U.S. President Donald Trump’s “scourge of oppressive stupidity” has been in the Oval Office for a year. His assault on higher education is among Trump’s more disturbing penchants.Henry Giroux, Chaired professor for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the Department of English and Cultural Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/817932017-08-11T00:59:34Z2017-08-11T00:59:34ZBetsy DeVos’ 6-month report card: More undoing than doing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181705/original/file-20170810-27649-uj8hzn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1543%2C0%2C2887%2C1802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Betsy Devos has been busy advancing a conservative education agenda since her confirmation earlier this year.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, the news cycle has been dominated by stories of White House controversy: <a href="https://theconversation.com/trumps-revised-travel-ban-still-faces-legal-challenges-74141">a travel ban</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/facing-the-threat-from-north-korea-5-essential-reads-81873">North Korea</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-isnt-letting-obamacare-die-hes-trying-to-kill-it-81373">health care</a> and more.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Secretary of Education <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-betsy-devos-70843">Betsy DeVos</a> has been busy fulfilling her conservative agenda that seeks to broaden school choice and market-based schooling in pre-K through higher education.</p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, I’ve been following Secretary DeVos’ first six months in office. Here’s a quick look at what’s she’s done – and what’s been left in limbo.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181706/original/file-20170810-27677-19dobnt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Devos at her January 2017 confirmation hearing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Student loan forgiveness</h2>
<p>Student loan forgiveness is one area in which DeVos seems to be changing direction from the Obama administration. In particular, she’s considering changes to the “<a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/borrower-defense">borrower defense to repayment</a>” regulations. These rules help students who have been defrauded or left in the lurch by university closures.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has approved none of the more than 15,000 applications it has received for loan forgiveness. An estimated <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/07/28/student-loan-forgiveness-trump">65,000 applications</a> are currently pending after DeVos called a halt to the rules – an act that <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/06/pf/college/betsy-devos-lawsuit-student-loan-rule/index.html">prompted 18 states to sue</a> DeVos in July.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, on August 1, a <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/08/02/541126799/new-fears-for-public-service-loan-forgiveness">legal motion was filed</a> by the Department of Education that has left another loan forgiveness initiative in a state of limbo. Since 2007, the <a href="https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service">Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program</a> has forgiven student debt for public employees (e.g., teachers, firefighters, police) after payments are made for 10 years. Some 500,000 people are waiting to see if their debt will be forgiven as expected.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181707/original/file-20170810-4090-1l67vay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DeVos has left the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program in limbo. The program alleviates student debt for people like firefighters, social workers and teachers.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>For-profit colleges</h2>
<p>At the heart of the loan forgiveness controversy is the role of for-profit colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Under the Obama administration, revisions to the borrower defense rules came about after reports of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2017/07/28/student-loan-forgiveness-trump">for-profit institutions luring students</a> into taking out student loans. Some of these schools – including <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/corinthian-colleges-shuts-down-ending-classes-16-000-overnight-n348741">Corinthian Colleges</a> and <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/09/07/itt-tech-shuts-down-all-campuses">ITT-Tech</a> – abruptly closed, leaving students unemployed or <a href="http://college.usatoday.com/2016/03/25/former-corinthian-colleges-to-pay-over-1b-for-defrauding-students/">lacking the skills promised</a> by the institution. These closings account for the majority of the loan forgiveness applications pending due to DeVos’ delay. </p>
<p>What’s more, DeVos is seeking to loosen federal restrictions on for-profit colleges and universities. The Obama-era <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/student-loan-ranger/2015/07/08/what-the-new-gainful-employment-rule-means-for-college-students">Gainful Employment Rule</a> requires colleges and universities to report how many of their graduates are able to pay back their student loans after graduation and what their income level is once completing a degree or certificate program. </p>
<p>DeVos called the current system “<a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-announces-regulatory-reset-protect-students-taxpayers-higher-ed-institutions">a muddled process that’s unfair to students and schools</a>” and has decided to discard the current version of the Gainful Employment Rule and start the process from scratch.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=246&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181708/original/file-20170810-20110-179265w.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=309&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Under DeVos, for-profit colleges may see a relaxing of Obama-era regulations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ITT_Technical_Institute_campus_Canton_Michigan.JPG">Dwight Burdette</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sexual assault on campus</h2>
<p>Student loan forgiveness and for-profit regulations aren’t the only Obama-era initiatives that DeVos is seeking to roll back. DeVos has also been at the center of a controversy regarding campus sexual assault and Title IX, the anti-discrimination law.</p>
<p>During the Obama administration, a <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/09/19/president-obama-launches-its-us-campaign-end-sexual-assault-campus">great deal of focus</a> was paid to the widespread problem of sexual assault on college campuses. As a result, the administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-and-obama-rewrite-the-rulebook-on-college-sexual-assaults/2016/07/03/0773302e-3654-11e6-a254-2b336e293a3c_story.html">issued guidelines</a> that advised universities to treat rape as a form of sexual harassment. University officials who failed to do so would be considered in violation of <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/tix_dis.html">Title IX</a>.</p>
<p>In an effort to reduce sexual violence on campus, the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201104.pdf">administration suggested</a> that action be taken with a “<a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/04/little-appetite-rollback-obama-guidelines-campus-sexual-assault">preponderance of evidence</a>” – a looser evidence standard that allowed alleged victims to request investigation more easily.</p>
<p>DeVos and her staff claim that the climate on campuses has swung too far in the wrong direction, leaving many men unfairly accused of assault. In fact, Candice Jackson, DeVos’ hire to head the civil rights division of the Department of Education, came under fire – and <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/07/13/537082095/education-department-official-apologizes-for-flippant-campus-sexual-assault-comm">later apologized</a> – for “flippant” remarks she made characterizing the majority of campus sexual assault cases as the result of two drunk students or unhappy ex-girlfriends.</p>
<p>DeVos intends to revisit the current policy, but her intentions are still unclear. Importantly, whatever guidelines DeVos institutes, the U.S. Department of Education would likely maintain the power to withdraw federal funding to public institutions that fail to comply with Title IX guidelines. The department does not, however have direct methods with which to enforce sexual assault protections.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181709/original/file-20170810-20679-6m0dub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Former Vice President Joe Biden speaking at an anti-sexual violence event. Devos is looking to revisit the Obama administration’s campus sexual assault policies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Paul Vernon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Civil rights</h2>
<p>Early in her tenure as secretary of education, DeVos <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-transgender-students-need-safe-bathrooms-50831">rescinded Obama-era guidelines</a> interpreting Title IX with regard to protections for transgender students.</p>
<p>In June, Jackson <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3866816-OCR-Instructions-to-the-Field-Re-Transgender.html">released a document</a> instructing schools on the topic of transgender students. It does not include <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/education/la-essential-education-updates-southern-this-is-the-trump-administration-s-new-1497632892-htmlstory.html">bathroom protection for transgender students</a>, a key component of the Obama-era guidelines.</p>
<p>This document, in addition to Jackson’s controversial comments about sexual assault, <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2017/08/democrats_blast_betsy_devos_hostility_civil_rights.html">spurred House Democrats</a> to demand the dismissal of Jackson from her post, but nothing has yet been done. </p>
<p>In addition to the policy shift for transgender students, DeVos has also been criticized for claiming that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/betsy-devos-comments-about-hbcus-2017-2">historically black colleges and universities</a> were great pioneers of school choice. The comment <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/02/28/devos-called-hbcus-pioneers-of-school-choice-it-didnt-go-over-well">enraged critics</a>, leaving DeVos to <a href="https://apnews.com/c48492774a0a4f6185e3ef208ef83dd5">apologize</a> and attempt to combat perceptions that she may be insensitive to the plight of African-Americans.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/181711/original/file-20170810-20110-15ydlmy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gavin Grimm’s suit to grant transgender students access to appropriate facilities remains undecided.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Steve Helber</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Special education</h2>
<p>In July, DeVos gave her first major speech on special education for students with disabilities. Critics were disappointed in her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/07/18/the-deep-irony-in-betsy-devoss-first-speech-on-special-education">emphasis on school choice</a>, rather than the need for more resources dedicated to special education in public schools.</p>
<p>DeVos also stated in that speech that she has prioritized special education complaints in the Office of Civil Rights, which is not actually the office that deals with special education complaints. This confusion came six months after DeVos also took heat for <a href="http://time.com/4637642/betsy-devos-confirmation-education-policy">confusion about federal special education law</a> at her confirmation hearing.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fftskn5HFdA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">At her confirmation hearing in January, Betsy DeVos came under fire for a perceived lack of understanding about IDEA, the federal special education law.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>In sum, while Secretary DeVos has been in office, much of her agenda has been focused on rescinding actions taken by the Obama administration, without enacting much in the way of official replacement policy herself. This has left many policies and guidelines in a state of uncertainty while the country waits to see what will happen.</p>
<p>It appears that she’s changing what she can with her official power – and using her pulpit to influence. But broad change requires legislative action, which is yet to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/81793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From student loans to Title IX, Betsy DeVos has had a busy six months in office. But despite numerous reversals of Obama-era guidelines, little has come in the way of tangible policy.Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/785642017-06-02T02:52:35Z2017-06-02T02:52:35ZWhat Trump’s education budget could mean for students in poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171713/original/file-20170531-25676-1xov79d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cuts to the 2018 federal education budget jeopardize access for students from low-income families.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-sad-teenagers-front-school-building-113201170?src=i0iZIgdJ1s66WMcey0W9Cg-1-26">Mattomedia Werbeagentur / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Dubbed “A New Foundation for American Greatness,” <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/budget.pdf">President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for 2018</a> seeks to achieve faster economic growth and debt reduction. But only US$59 billion of that budget has been slated for education – a $9.2 billion cut (13.5 percent) compared to last year.</p>
<p>The education plan also <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/budget-factsheet.pdf">eliminates or reduces more than 30 programs</a> that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her team deemed to be duplicative of other programs, ineffective, or more fittingly supported with state, local, or private funds.</p>
<p>As experts in public finance and school-community partnership, we have seen the impact of many of these programs. Cuts to these programs and other aspects of the Trump-DeVos education plan could have long-lasting implications for America’s children – especially those living in poverty.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171710/original/file-20170531-25652-1dulljc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">DeVos testified at the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee meeting on the Education Department’s fiscal 2018 budget on May 24, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo/Carolyn Kaster</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Eliminations and consequences</h2>
<p>On the surface, the administration’s motivation for cutting these programs seems quite clear: Reducing expenditure on some existing programs or eliminating them altogether can give a measure of budget relief in the short-term. However, in our view the long-term consequences could be severe.</p>
<p>Consider, for example, the <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/index.html">21st Century Community Learning Centers</a> program (CCLC), which provides afterschool academic enrichment for students in high-poverty communities. CCLC serves <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget18/summary/18summary.pdf">2 million children at 11,500 centers</a> nationwide. Performance audits conducted by the Department of Education in 2015 showed that “this broad reaching program touches students’ lives in ways that will have <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/1415perrpt.docx">far reaching impact</a>.” </p>
<p>At these centers, children in high poverty communities get additional help to benefit their math and English abilities, enhance class participation skills, and improve classroom behavior. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/1415perrpt.docx">According to the audit</a>, nearly 50 percent of the children who participated reported improvements in their school grades and over 20 percent reported improvements in state assessment scores. Over 50 percent of teachers reported an improvement in homework completion and student behavior.</p>
<p>Under the Trump-DeVos plan, CCLC funding would be eliminated immediately. Research has shown that a more gradual phasing out of programs like CCLC <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED377562">gives schools and governments adequate time</a> to determine whether the gaps left behind can be filled. In 2013, a similarly abrupt cut was made to Head Start, a preschool program that serves low-income families. The sudden eliminations <a href="http://wesa.fm/post/sequester-cuts-head-start-programs-dealt-abrupt-budget-blow">left many families without daytime care</a> for their 3- to 5-year-old children.</p>
<p>The new budget also plans to eliminate <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/campisp/performance.html">CCAMPIS</a>, a program which subsidizes childcare for parents enrolled in college, and <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovapproaches-literacy/performance.html">IAL</a>, which provides high-quality books to school libraries. Both programs predominantly serve low-income families and both show a positive impact.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/171717/original/file-20170531-25704-a1x3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">21st Century Community Learning Center grants support after-school programs that offer academic intervention, enrichment activities, and youth development activities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.azed.gov/century-learning-centers/">Arizona Department of Education</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who has a choice in school choice?</h2>
<p>Some of these <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-budget-would-abandon-public-education-for-private-choice-78071">education cuts will be reallocated</a> toward expanding charter schools, extending vouchers for private and religious schools, and supporting public schools to adopt choice-friendly policies. These reallocations, like the cuts, stand to impact low-income families the most.</p>
<p>Why? That comes down to who really <em>has</em> a choice when it comes to school choice.</p>
<p>While Secretary DeVos might claim that her proposed policy provides <a href="https://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/prepared-remarks-us-secretary-education-betsy-devos-american-federation-childrens-national-policy-summit">all families with the choice</a> to select charter or private schools supported by vouchers, we know that children from low-income families, which now represent <a href="http://www.southerneducation.org/getattachment/4ac62e27-5260-47a5-9d02-14896ec3a531/A-New-Majority-2015-Update-Low-Income-Students-Now.aspx">51 percent of students</a> in U.S. public schools, <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/school-linked-services/9780231160957">do not have the same access</a> to choice as do children from middle- and upper-class families. </p>
<p>Whereas public schools are mandated to serve all children, charter and private schools serve children whose families learn about them, seek them out, and apply to them. But many parents <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Could-It-Be-Otherwise-Parents-and-the-Inequalities-of-Public-School-Choice/Andre-Bechely/p/book/9780415945219">face significant challenges</a> in connecting their children with “choice” educational opportunities: The parents themselves may not be educated, may be illiterate, may not speak fluent English, may be without access to computers and/or phones, may be without sufficient transportation, or may be working more than one job. These challenges <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085993028003004">disproportionately affect families living in poverty</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, DeVos’ focus on choice and vouchers is likely to widen – rather than reduce – the gap between children from low- and middle-income families.</p>
<p>There are ways to mitigate this (and some charter schools are doing so), but the DeVos proposal neither requires nor rewards these provisions. For example, the Children’s Aid Society’s College Prep Charter School has admissions criteria that advantage children who are <a href="https://childrensaidcollegeprep.org/news/children%E2%80%99s-aid-society%E2%80%99s-bronx-charter-school-holds-lottery-third-academic-year">low-income, English language learners, and/or “welfare-involved.”</a></p>
<p>While some charter schools across the country prioritize low-income students, the new budget gives schools no incentives to do so.</p>
<h2>Educational inequity and the future</h2>
<p>The United States <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016100.pdf#page=91">spends more money</a> than any other country on the education of children. We believe that this investment has yielded some substantial results in the educational achievement of American students: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, reading and math scores for fourth graders in the U.S. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016100.pdf#page=58">improved significantly</a> between 2006 and 2011.</p>
<p>However, the role of federal funding in education is about more than increasing the overall academic performance of America’s children. Federal funding supplements the sometimes inequitable state and local government funding, ensuring that all students have an equal chance to succeed.</p>
<p>But in the case of the new budget, programs that bridge the gap for struggling low-income students are being eliminated in order to support school choice initiatives that are typically utilized by more affluent families.</p>
<p>In our conversations with parents of all income levels, we uniformly hear that what they most want for their children is for them to succeed beyond where they have. The DeVos budget proposal stacks the deck against parents currently struggling to make ends meet, making it even harder for them to see this hope realized for their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Bronstein has previously received funding from the US DOE-HHS and DOJ.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Komla Dzigbede does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many of the programs being cut in the Trump-DeVos education budget serve low-income families – families that aren’t likely to benefit from the budget’s reallocation of funds toward school choice.Komla Dzigbede, Assistant Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLaura Bronstein, Dean of the College of Community and Public Affairs Professor, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/780712017-05-23T21:08:04Z2017-05-23T21:08:04ZTrump budget would abandon public education for private choice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170383/original/file-20170522-7364-1mvj6o8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump participate in a round-table discussion during a visit to Saint Andrew Catholic School in Miami. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Trump administration has announced its plan to transform education funding as we know it. The new <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/budget.pdf">budget proposal</a> takes aim at a host of elementary, secondary and higher education programs that serve needy students, redirecting those funds toward K-12 school choice in the form of vouchers, tax credits and charter schools.</p>
<p>Public schools that enroll a large percentage of low-income students stand to lose significant chunks of their budget, as well as a number of specialized federal programs for their students. At the same time, the Trump budget will incentivize families to leave not only these schools, but public schools in general.</p>
<p>As a scholar of education law and policy, I note that my recent <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2745915">research</a> on state voucher and charter programs shows that the loss of both money and core constituents proposed by this new budget could throw public education into a downward spiral.</p>
<h2>The proposed changes in federal funding</h2>
<p>Through Title I of the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa?src=rn">Elementary and Secondary Education Act</a>, the federal government currently sends US$16 billion a year to public schools to provide extra resources for low-income students. While Title I is the single largest federal grant, the federal government spends <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016301.pdf">more than twice that amount</a> through a multitude of other programs. School systems like those in Miami, Milwaukee, Houston, San Antonio and Detroit get anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of their funding from the federal government.</p>
<p>The new budget proposes about <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/03/16/520379061/read-president-trumps-budget-blueprint">$4 billion</a> in cuts to programs like literacy for students with disabilities and limited English proficiency, class-size reduction, and after-school and summer programs.</p>
<p>The Trump administration promises the money is not really gone; it’s just coming back under different <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/budget/fy2018/2018_blueprint.pdf">policies</a>. The administration plans to add $1 billion to Title I, but the additional money comes with a big catch: States must spend that money on school choice. To access the new money, states and districts would have to adopt student enrollment policies that allow families to choose their own schools and take public money with them. </p>
<p>This would fundamentally change the way states have funded schools and assigned students for the past century. While choice policies have significantly grown in recent years, the vast majority of districts continue to assign students to a public school <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2010/2010004.pdf">based on where they live</a>. If families choose to leave the district to attend another school (i.e., a charter school), local school funds remain with the district. A substantial chunk, if not all, of state and federal dollars typically stay with the district as well. </p>
<p>Trump’s proposal would have all of the local, state and federal dollars follow the child, regardless of the school the student attends. Choice advocates argue that this gets the government out of the driver’s seat and brings market forces to bear on public schools. Competition, they reason, will <a href="http://educationnext.org/does-competition-improve-public-schools/">improve public schools</a> and, thus, benefit everyone. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170379/original/file-20170522-7329-541bh4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In January, Georgia Charter Schools Association and GeorgiaCAN sponsored a school choice town hall to discuss school choice implications for minority families in Georgia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Branden Camp/AP Images for Georgia Charter Schools Association</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The threat to low-income schools</h2>
<p>Studies have shown that while decreased student enrollment does reduce some public school costs, <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/%7Err2165/pdfs/nycharterfiscal.pdf">other costs remain fixed</a>. School buses drive the same routes. Air conditioners run just as much. And, quite often, the school still needs the same number of teachers. When states fail to account for these realities, they can <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/02/06/146482651/penn-school-district-goes-broke">drive school districts into bankruptcy</a>. </p>
<p>Under Trump’s proposal, when a student enrolls in a charter school, that student will take not only federal funding with them, but all of the state and local funding that previously supported the local school. This would effectively reduce the funding for the local school without reducing its costs. </p>
<p>The effect on high-poverty districts could be catastrophic. On average, school districts serving predominantly low-income students already receive significantly less <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxtYmwryVI00VDhjRGlDOUh3VE0/view">state and local funding</a> than others. In Nevada, for instance, predominantly middle-income schools spend $10,400 per pupil, whereas schools serving just a moderate number of low-income students spend only $6,100 per pupil. Taking more money away from needy schools would likely widen these gaps. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170362/original/file-20170522-25082-19509hp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arne Duncan gives a speech at Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C. in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/16263354861/in/photolist-qM8WN2-6zavLU-quJ5H1-fppnTQ-qMdWWu-pQi7wq-qM8RJz-qM8TjP-qMibFD-7jtyH4-mv7J98-dyTETy-fCSqyF-br76gk-sKTxfn-fzAsnr-quSBbP-mv8fhT-quSAjZ-9TustP-dcdTw3-qK1mV3-quJWus-qMidwn-quRo4F-quJ59A-quSA1T-quSyR8-brEVKS-8LWRhy-8QDXNV-mwVv6J-9EEeF3-eHRg2n-oS9rk4-7bgeuu-hgatbR-pQibcm-qM8UGi-quJ6Mq-cWMyYJ-8QDXKK-qK1qqE-cWMzFE-qMigtV-pE4eyL-dyTEAQ-mbdiRH-fpahqa-8QDXHt">US Department of Education/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>States, of course, can stick with the traditional rules for spending federal Title I money, but if they want additional money from Trump, they have to agree to his choice proposal. History has shown that states are typically willing to do anything to get new federal education money, even when it’s a bad idea. In 2009, Secretary Arne Duncan offered even less money for states to adopt controversial <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2485407">teacher evaluation systems and the Common Core</a>. While those policies <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2848415">imploded within a few years</a>, more than 40 states were initially quick to take the deal.</p>
<h2>The threat to public schools in general</h2>
<p>The administration plans to go beyond the education budget alone. Although it is holding back the details <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/05/23/devos-school-choice-should-expand-but-not-washington-d-c/338413001/">for now</a>, the administration is close to proposing an entire <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/05/18/sources-devos-to-unveil-school-choice-plans-in-policy-speech-238544">new tax scheme</a> to fund private education. This new program would give individuals and businesses <a href="https://theconversation.com/tax-credits-school-choice-and-neovouchers-what-you-need-to-know-74808">tax credits</a> for “donating” to organizations that pay for students’ tuition at private schools. </p>
<p>In the past, states have experimented with traditional school voucher programs, which are typically limited to small numbers of low-income students. The new tax credit system, by contrast, could be used by states to fund wealthier students – and could be opened up to enrollment at religious schools as well. </p>
<p>As a result, enrollment in these programs has risen dramatically in comparison to traditional vouchers. In states like Florida and Indiana, the size of these programs <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2745915">quadrupled</a> in just a few years.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170377/original/file-20170522-7384-upiyxv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Secretary DeVos visits SLAM Charter School in Miami.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofed/33152025944/in/album-72157682413273936/">US Department of Education/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A wolf in school choice clothing</h2>
<p>On the surface, these policies are just about moving money around – freeing up traditional public school funding to spur growth in charter and private schools. Below the surface, however, I believe the new budget undermines confidence in public education.</p>
<p>North Carolina offers a cautionary tale. A few years ago, North Carolina slashed its traditional education budget by 20 percent, while doubling its expenditures on charter schools. Since then, North Carolina’s public schools have fallen from being among the finest in the nation to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/08/07/north-carolinas-step-by-step-war-on-public-education/?utm_term=.eadd3edef376">some of the worst</a>.</p>
<p>Policies like these misunderstand why we have public education in the first place. Our government institutions have long funded public schools because they produce <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2277371">benefits for society as a whole</a>: productive citizens, social values, shared experiences and an effective workforce. Individuals surely benefit, but the pursuit of these societal goals is the reason that our states provide education.</p>
<p>Trump’s effort to reshape school financing reflects a vision of education that is not public at all. This new vision is all about individuals, ignoring what may happen to our societal values, public schools and the neediest students who will be left behind.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Derek W. Black does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Trump administration’s new education budget cuts money from traditional schools and funnels it toward school choice. Is it a nail in the coffin for public education?Derek W. Black, Professor of Law, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/740202017-04-28T01:50:38Z2017-04-28T01:50:38ZIs charter school fraud the next Enron?<p>In 2001, Texas-based energy giant Enron shocked the world by declaring bankruptcy. Thousands of employees lost their jobs, and investors <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/05/10/news/companies/enron-skilling/">lost billions</a>. </p>
<p>As a <a href="http://education.uconn.edu/person/preston-green-iii/">scholar</a> who studies the legal and policy issues pertaining to school choice, I’ve observed that the same type of fraud that occurred at Enron has been cropping up in the <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2924886#%23">charter school sector</a>. A handful of school officials have been caught <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=2924886">using the Enron playbook</a> to divert funding slated for these schools into their own pockets.</p>
<p>As school choice champions like <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-betsy-devos-70843">Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos</a> push to make charter schools a larger part of the educational landscape, it’s important to understand the Enron scandal and how charter schools are vulnerable to similar schemes.</p>
<h2>What is a related-party transaction?</h2>
<p>Enron’s downfall was caused largely by something called “related-party transactions.” Understanding this concept is crucial for grasping how charter schools may also be in danger.</p>
<p>Related-party transactions are business arrangements between companies <a href="https://www.aicpa.org/Research/Standards/AuditAttest/DownloadableDocuments/AU-00334.pdf">with close associations</a>: It could be between two companies owned or managed by the same group or it could be between one large company and a smaller company that it owns. Although related-party transactions are legal, they can create severe conflicts of interest, allowing those in power to profit from employees, investors and even taxpayers.</p>
<p>This is what happened at Enron. Because Enron wanted to look good to investors, the company created thousands of “<a href="http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2002/apr/theriseandfallofenron.html">special purpose entities</a>” to hide its debt. Because of these off-the-books partnerships, Enron was able to <a href="https://hbr.org/2013/07/how-share-price-fixation-kille">artificially boost its profits</a>, thus tricking investors. </p>
<p>Enron’s Chief Financial Officer <a href="http://fortune.com/2013/07/01/the-confessions-of-andy-fastow/">Andrew Fastow</a> managed several of these special purpose entities, benefiting from his position of power at the expense of the company’s shareholders. For instance, these companies paid him US$30 million in management fees – <a href="http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2002/apr/theriseandfallofenron.html">far more than his Enron salary</a>.</p>
<p>Fastow also conspired with other Enron employees to pocket another $30 million from one of these entities, and he moved $4.5 million from this scheme <a href="http://www.vanguardnewsnetwork.com/wolzek/2002_Fastow_Enron_crash.htm">into his family foundation</a>.</p>
<p>Enron’s collapse revealed the weaknesses of the gatekeepers – including boards of directors and the <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Article/whatwedo.html">Securities and Exchange Commission</a> – that are responsible for protecting the markets. Because of lax accountability and federal deregulation, these watchdogs failed to detect the dangers posed by Fastow’s conflict of interest until it was <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=537542">too late</a>. Congress responded by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which <a href="https://www.thebalance.com/sarbanes-oxley-act-and-the-enron-scandal-393497">tightened the requirements for oversight</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166677/original/file-20170425-12640-exfs5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Enron employees lost their jobs and billions of dollars in pension benefits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Pat Sullivan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do related-party transactions occur in charter schools?</h2>
<p>Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have <a href="http://dashboard2.publiccharters.org/National">legislation that allows for charter schools</a>. Just like public schools, charter schools receive public funding. However, unlike public schools, charter schools are <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/rb_baker-miron_charter_revenue_0.pdf">exempt from many laws governing financial transparency</a>.</p>
<p>Without strict regulation, some bad actors have been able to take advantage of charter schools as an opportunity for private investment. In the worst cases, individuals have been able to use related-party transactions to fraudulently funnel public money intended for charter schools into other business ventures that they control. </p>
<p>Such was the case with <a href="http://www.ccsa.org/2015-04-29-Selivanov-People_Respondent%27s_Brief_Embezzlement.pdf">Ivy Academia</a>, a Los Angeles-area charter school. The co-founders, Yevgeny Selivanov and Tatayana Berkovich, also owned a private preschool that shared facilities with the charter school. The preschool entered into a sublease for the facilities at a monthly rent of $18,390 – the fair-market value. The preschool then assigned the sublease to the charter school at a monthly rent of $43,870. </p>
<p>The Los Angeles district attorney’s office charged the husband-and-wife team with <a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/article/ZZ/20100610/NEWS/100619878">multiple counts of fraud</a>. Selivanov was sentenced to nearly <a href="http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20131004/ivy-academia-founders-sentenced-in-fraud-case">five years in jail</a> in 2013.</p>
<p>Fraudulent related-party transactions can also occur between education management organizations (EMOs) and their affiliates. <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/rb_baker-miron_charter_revenue_0.pdf">EMOs</a> are for-profit or nonprofit entities that sometimes manage charter schools, and might also own smaller companies that could provide services to those schools. </p>
<p>For example, Imagine Schools is a nonprofit EMO that runs <a href="http://www.imagineschools.org/2015/08/imagine-schools-completes-transition-to-non-profit-status/">63 charter schools enrolling 33,000 students</a> across the country. It also owns SchoolHouse Finance, a for-profit company that, among other things, handles real estate for many of Imagine’s charter schools. Though charter schools typically spend around 14 percent of their funding on rent, some of the Imagine Schools were paying SchoolHouse Finance up to <a href="http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&jsid=debfc351f8b49a01edd183ae07060240&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010774219&u=magn0126&zid=1116959505bea971f514b6b84cf25fa6">40 percent of their funding</a> for rent.</p>
<p>One of the charter schools operated by Imagine Schools, Renaissance Academy in Kansas City, sued the company for charging it excessive rent. In 2015, a federal judge agreed, ordering Imagine Schools to pay almost <a href="http://courtweb.pamd.uscourts.gov/courtwebsearch/mowd/YgEGzNViWt.pdf">$1 million in damages</a> to Renaissance. The court’s ruling suggested that Imagine Schools was essentially taking advantage of the charter school: The EMO profited from the excessive rent and failed to tell the school’s board of directors how the cost might disrupt the school’s ability to pay for textbooks and teacher salaries.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166673/original/file-20170425-12645-znswzg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students at Renaissance Academy charter school work on a paper recycling project. Renaissance Academy shut down in 2012 and was later ordered to receive $1 million in damages from its EMO, Imagine Schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Orlin Wagner</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The problem could get worse</h2>
<p>Because of insufficient oversight, Fastow’s fraudulent use of related-party transactions at Enron was not stopped until it was too late. Similarly, the Ivy Academia and Renaissance Academy examples reveal insufficient checks and balances in the charter school sector. In both cases, the monitors responsible for protecting charter schools found nothing wrong with the rental agreements. </p>
<p>It might be tempting to conclude that Ivy Academia and Renaissance Academy stories are anecdotal – that fear of widespread abuse of related-party transactions is overblown. However, there have been dozens of <a href="http://lwveducation.com/the-league-in-action-on-for-profit-charters/">allegations</a> of similar transgressions, including against industry giants such as <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/04/17/k12-inc-california-virtual-academies-operator-exploits-charter-charity-laws-for-money-records-show/">K12 Inc.</a> and <a href="http://www.paauditor.gov/Media/Default/Reports/PACyberCharterSchool,%20Beaver,%20092116.pdf">Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School</a>. Though only a handful of these allegations have resulted in the <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2016/12/bay_city_academy_founder_steve_1.html">removal of the charter school operators</a>, related-party fraud in the charter school sector is an emerging issue.</p>
<p>In September 2016, the Education Department’s inspector general released the findings of an audit of several dozen charter schools detailing <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oig/auditreports/fy2016/a02m0012.pdf">significant problems with related-party transactions</a>.</p>
<p>The report also made several recommendations for additional oversight. Such protection could come at the state level (e.g., providing guidance to states regarding charter school contractual agreements with EMOs) or at the federal level (e.g., improving the Department’s own monitoring of charter school-EMO relationships).</p>
<p>However, Trump has generally expressed a <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/01/30/trump-regulation-executive-order/">dislike of federal regulations</a>, and DeVos, who played a major role in the development of Michigan’s charter school law, has <a href="http://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2016/11/22/what-a-betsy-devos-appointment-would-tell-us-about-donald-trumps-education-plans/">successfully fought attempts to increase oversight</a> of Michigan’s charter school sector. With such anti-regulatory stances, it seems unlikely that Trump or DeVos will support the kind of oversight that’s needed to protect charter schools.</p>
<p>This aversion to regulation at the federal level could cost taxpayers <a href="https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-Schools-National-Report_rev2.pdf#page=6">millions of dollars</a> and could result in the <a href="https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-Schools-National-Report_rev2.pdf">closing or disruption</a> of schools – potentially damaging the education of students they serve. Since charter schools are growing fastest in <a href="http://www.publiccharters.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/enrollmentshare_web.pdf">low-income and minority communities</a>, these children stand to be hurt the most.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74020/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Preston Green III does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Enron stands as one of the most infamous scandals in business history. With a growing charter school sector and lax regulation, the same kind of corruption and fraud is rearing its ugly head.Preston Green III, John and Carla Klein Professor of Urban Education, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748072017-04-27T01:51:13Z2017-04-27T01:51:13ZFederal role in education has a long history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166909/original/file-20170426-2838-1b35jhj.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C307%2C3062%2C2342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Though many of Thomas Jefferson's educational policies were never passed during his lifetime, they became the foundation of federal education today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThomas_Jefferson_by_Mather_Brown%2C_1786_-_DSC03165.JPG">Portrait by Mather Brown / Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/record-press-call-education-federalism-executive-order">has directed</a> the United States Department of Education to evaluate whether the federal government has “overstepped its legal authority” in the field of education. This is not a new issue in American politics.</p>
<p>Ever since the Department of Education became a Cabinet-level agency in 1979, opposition to federalized education has been a popular rallying cry among conservatives. <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ684842.pdf#page=2">Ronald Reagan advocated</a> to dismantle the department while campaigning for his presidency, and many others since then have called for more power to be put back into the states’ hands when it comes to educational policy. In February of this year, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/899/text">legislation was introduced</a> to eliminate the Department of Education entirely.</p>
<p>So, what is the role of the state versus the federal government in the world of K-12 education?</p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, I have seen that people are divided on the role that the federal government should play in K-12 education – a role that has changed over the course of history.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166910/original/file-20170426-2831-4oqj0c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump holds the signed Education Federalism Executive Order. Wednesday, April 26, 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Growth of public education in states</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript">10th Amendment</a> to the United States Constitution states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This leaves the power to create schools and a system for education in the hands of individual states, rather than the central national government. Today, all 50 states provide public schooling to their young people – with 50 approaches to education within the borders of one nation.</p>
<p>Public schooling on a state level began in 1790, when Pennsylvania became the first state to <a href="https://isminc.com/pdf/free/administrators-faculty/history_education.pdf#page=3">require free education</a>. This service was extended only to poor families, assuming that wealthy people could afford to pay for their own education. New York followed suit in 1805. In 1820, Massachusetts was the first state to <a href="https://www.raceforward.org/research/reports/historical-timeline-public-education-us">have a tuition-free high school for all</a>, and also the first to require compulsory education.</p>
<p>By the late 1800s, public education had spread to most states, in a movement often referred to as the <a href="http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1871/Common-School-Movement.html">common school movement</a>. After World War I, urban populations swelled, and vocational education and secondary education became <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/lkatz/files/why_the_united_states_led_in_education_lessons_from_secondary_school_expansion_1910_to_1940_1.pdf">part of the American landscape</a>. By 1930, <a href="https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/ae4.html">every state</a> had some sort of compulsory education law. This led to increased control of schools by cities and states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166911/original/file-20170426-2843-iflrcn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Massachusetts was the first state to offer tuition-free schooling for all students.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_English_High_School#/media/File:EnglishSchool_KingsBoston1881.png">Artist: George Clough / Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Federal role in education</h2>
<p>As for the federal government’s role, education is not specifically addressed in the Constitution, but a historical precedent of central government involvement does exist.</p>
<p>In 1787, the Continental Congress, the central government of the United States between 1776 and 1787, passed the <a href="http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/northwest-ordinance/">Northwest Ordinance</a>, which became the governing document for Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and part of Minnesota. </p>
<p>The ordinance included a provision encouraging the creation of schools as a key component of “good government and the happiness of mankind.” Just two years earlier, the <a href="http://www.in.gov/history/2478.htm">Land Ordinance of 1785</a> required land to be reserved in townships for the building of schools.</p>
<p>The role of the federal government in general grew much larger after the Great Depression and World War II, but this growth <a href="http://lwv.org/content/history-federal-government-public-education-where-have-we-been-and-how-did-we-get-here">largely excluded K-12 education</a> until the 1960s. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X024003004">included education policy</a> in his vision of a “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson">Great Society</a>.”</p>
<h2>Elementary and Secondary Education Act</h2>
<p>In 1965, President Johnson signed the <a href="https://federaleducationpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/19/1965-elementary-and-secondary-education-act/">Elementary and Secondary Education Act</a> (ESEA) into law. This law <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/the-nations-main-k-12-law-a-timeline.html">decidedly changed the role of the federal government</a> in the world of K-12 education. </p>
<p>ESEA doubled the amount of federal expenditures for K-12 education, worked to change the relationship between states and the central government in the education arena, called for equal treatment of students no matter where they reside and attempted to improve reading and math competency for children in poverty. </p>
<p>ESEA was passed with the intention of bridging <a href="http://prde.upress.virginia.edu/content/WarOnPoverty">a clear gap</a> between children in poverty and those from privilege. <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/index.html?exp=0">Title I</a> of the ESEA, which is still referenced frequently in K-12 education policy, is a major provision of the bill, which distributed federal funding to districts with low-income families.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166912/original/file-20170426-2822-1qvk8t4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=520&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President George W. Bush passed one of the most well-known reauthorizations of ESEA in 2001, with No Child Left Behind.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>ESEA today</h2>
<p>ESEA is still the law of the United States today. However, the law has required periodic reauthorization, which has led to significant changes since 1965. One of the most well-known reauthorizations was President George W. Bush’s <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1">No Child Left Behind</a> (NCLB) Act of 2001. NCLB called for 100 percent proficiency in math and reading scores nationwide by 2014, and expanded the role of standardized testing to measure student achievement.</p>
<p>Under President Barack Obama, <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop-assessment/index.html">Race to the Top</a> was established, requiring states to compete for federal grants through a point system, which rewarded certain educational policies and achievements. This resulted in nationwide changes in the way teachers are evaluated, and placed even more emphasis on test results.</p>
<p>In 2015, Obama signed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177">Every Student Succeeds Act</a> (ESSA) into law. This is the latest reauthorization of ESEA, and <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/12/07/the-every-student-succeeds-act-explained.html">returns some federal power</a> over education back to states, including evaluation measures and <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-new-education-law-allow-for-teachers-with-lower-qualifications-54999">teacher quality standards</a>.</p>
<h2>The debate continues</h2>
<p>Since the 1980s, a growing trend in the field of K-12 education has been the growth of <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/choice/">school choice and charter schools</a>. Every state has its own policy regarding these issues, but during the presidential campaign of 2016, President Trump assured that his administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/09/08/trump-pitches-20-billion-education-plan-at-ohio-charter-school-that-received-poor-marks-from-state/">would provide federal money</a> to help students attend a school of their choice. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-betsy-devos-70843">has dedicated her career</a> to the cause of school choice.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166908/original/file-20170426-2834-k98kof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=526&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of Trump’s first budget proposals called for significant reductions to the Department of Education.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Jon Elswick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On April 26, President Trump signed the “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/04/26/record-press-call-education-federalism-executive-order">Education Federalism Executive Order</a>,” which requires the United States Department of Education to spend 300 days evaluating the role of the federal government in education. The <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-04-26/donald-trump-to-order-education-department-to-study-government-overreach">purpose of the order</a> is to “determine where the Federal Government has unlawfully overstepped state and local control.” This comes on the back of a proposed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/trump-seeks-to-slash-education-department-but-make-big-push-for-school-choice/2017/03/15/63b8b6f8-09a1-11e7-b77c-0047d15a24e0_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.896aa1c3cf95">13.5 percent cut</a> to the national education budget.</p>
<p>It’s not yet known what the results of this study might conclude. But, in my opinion, it may impact ESEA and the current funding structure that has been the norm for over 50 years, dramatically impacting funding for students in poverty and with special needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump has ordered a task force to look into the federal government’s role in schools. Where does this executive order fit in the country’s long history of federal versus state educational policies?Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748082017-04-14T13:56:25Z2017-04-14T13:56:25ZTax credits, school choice and ‘neovouchers’: What you need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165293/original/image-20170413-25898-14wcw52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Should taxpayer dollars fund private education?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/elementary-school-pupils-running-playground-284501777?src=-7i_gVOjcgfbUP4mAhpK9Q-1-1">Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As Republican lawmakers craft a <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170325/trump-gop-turn-to-tax-overhaul">tax reform bill</a>, there’s <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_TAXES">speculation</a> on the import taxes, value-added taxes and tax cuts it may usher in. Meanwhile, it’s likely that the bill will also include a major education policy initiative from the Trump administration: a <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/trump-schools-tax-credit-public-private-235228">tax credit designed to fund private school vouchers</a>.</p>
<p>A decade ago I started researching this <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?282880-1/tuition-tax-credits">new kind of voucher</a> – funded through a somewhat convoluted tax credit mechanism – that appears to have particular appeal to <a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/Experts-Talk-Education-Under-Trump-DeVos--416373583.html">President Trump and other Republicans</a>.</p>
<p>These new vouchers (or “neovouchers”) are similar to conventional vouchers in many ways, but there are some important differences. It’s those differences that neovoucher advocates most care about and that everyone should understand.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165292/original/image-20170413-25898-1dhmkx1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos tour Saint Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Florida.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Alex Brandon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Conventional vouchers</h2>
<p>What exactly is a school voucher? Typically, a voucher is direct financial support that helps families pay for the cost of private K-12 schooling. Proponents see vouchers as a way to <a href="https://www.federationforchildren.org/school-choice-america/programs-qualifications/">help children attend nonpublic schools</a>. Detractors see vouchers as <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-school-vouchers-improve-results-it-depends-on-what-we-ask-55003">undermining funding and support needed by public education</a>.</p>
<p>All vouchers subsidize tuition with tax dollars. This can be accomplished in many ways, and the nuances matter.</p>
<p>Conventional voucher policies use the relatively straightforward method of allocating state money to give vouchers directly to eligible parents. The parents, in turn, give the vouchers to a private school of their choice. These schools are sometimes secular, but are <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgc.asp">usually religious</a>.</p>
<p>The private schools then redeem these vouchers to obtain money from the state. In the <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/school-choice-in-america/">16 states</a> where conventional voucher policies exist, they produce about 175,000 vouchers annually. This amounts to 3.3 percent of the nation’s private school population.</p>
<p>Yet, these direct vouchering programs present four major problems for school choice advocates.</p>
<p>First, they’re typically available only to <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737024002145">lower-income families</a>; wealthier families are usually not eligible.</p>
<p>Second, when governments directly provide voucher money, participating schools are generally required to comply with <a href="https://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/20130129-School-Choice-Regulations-Red-Tape-or-Red-Herring-FINAL_7.pdf">a variety of guidelines</a>, such as accreditation requirements, anti-discrimination regulation, minimum teacher qualifications, financial reporting and/or the administration of a standardized test to students receiving the voucher.</p>
<p>Third, vouchers are <a href="http://www.shankerinstitute.org/sites/shanker/files/pdkpoll47_2015.pdf#page=18">simply not politically popular</a> – which is why the more palatable term “<a href="http://schoolsites.schoolworld.com/schools/Cheltenham/webpages/rwilman/files/article-lemann-the%20word%20lab.pdf">opportunity scholarships</a>” (courtesy of messaging guru <a href="http://www.luntzglobal.com/team/frank-luntz/">Frank Luntz</a>) has become increasingly popular.</p>
<p>Finally – and importantly – <a href="https://comm.ncsl.org/productfiles/82733543/Session_Powerpoint.pdf">state constitutions</a> often prohibit the channeling of state money to religious institutions. In many states, this means that conventional voucher programs cannot exist if the program includes religious schools. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/536/639/case.html">vouchers don’t violate federal law</a>, state constitutions can create <a href="http://law.justia.com/constitution/colorado/cnart9.html">legal obstacles</a> that are more formidable than those under the U.S. Constitution.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165299/original/image-20170413-25886-1qah0et.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St. Joseph Academy, a Catholic school in Cleveland, is one of the top three schools to benefit from Ohio voucher dollars. Ohio’s conventional vouchers can be applied to secular and nonsecular schools alike, but 97 percent go to religious schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Joseph_Academy_Campus.jpg">Oarbogast / Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Vouchers on steroids</h2>
<p>To sidestep these issues, many state lawmakers have embraced a new kind of voucher policy that gets essentially the same result but changes the state’s role from paying for vouchers to issuing tax credits.</p>
<p>This approach was first adopted in Arizona, in 1997, where the legislature <a href="https://www.azleg.gov/ars/43/01089.htm">passed a law</a> setting up a system in which any taxpayer could “donate” money to a special, private nonprofit corporation. That corporation then issues vouchers to parents, who use them to pay for private school tuition. The taxpayers then get the money back from the state in the form of a tax credit.</p>
<p><a href="http://law.justia.com/constitution/arizona/2/12.htm">Arizona’s constitution</a> – typical of language in state constitutions – requires that “No public money or property shall be appropriated for or applied to any religious worship, exercise, or instruction, or to the support of any religious establishment.” But Arizona’s elaborate mechanism keeps the specific dollars out of state coffers. Consequently, state funding only indirectly supports religious institutions. The <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v8n36.2000">Arizona Supreme Court</a> found this distinction sufficient, ruling that the tax credits did not violate the state’s constitutional prohibition against spending public money for religious support.</p>
<p>Beyond this legal advantage, advocates favor this sort of tax-credit-voucher method because it appears <a href="https://www.cato.org/education-wiki/scholarship-tax-credits-vouchers">less likely to be regulated</a>. It’s also likely to be open to a wider range of parents – not just lower-income or special needs families. And the complexity of the neovoucher approach <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/09/03/02welner.h28.html">obscures the fact that it’s really a voucher program</a>, making it less of a political lightning rod.</p>
<p>Some wealthy taxpayers can even receive tax benefits exceeding the <a href="http://itep.org/itep_reports/2016/10/state-tax-subsidies-for-private-k-12-education.php#.WM1mZUffuOw">value of their donations</a>. This baffling outcome is because of a loophole tied to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), an extra tax imposed on some wealthier taxpayers to ensure that they pay their fair share. The AMT limits certain tax breaks, such as the ability to deduct state tax payments from federal taxes. However – and here’s the twist – these AMT taxpayers can deduct charitable contributions. And so, these wealthier taxpayers can shift their state tax payment into a “charitable” contribution and instantly transform the payment into a federal deduction. In the six states that give a full tax credit for voucher donations, those taxpayers can get back the full value of their voucher plus a deduction for the donation.</p>
<p>A decade ago when I wrote a book explaining these tax credit policies and labeling them “<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742540804">neovouchers</a>,” they existed in only six states and generated about 100,000 vouchers. Today, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/school-choice-in-america/">17 states</a> have tax-credit policies similar to Arizona’s on their books, generating a quarter-million vouchers and growing every year.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=314&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165287/original/image-20170413-10077-jto263.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students at The King’s Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida. Florida is one of the states that issues tax-credit-style vouchers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_King%27s_Academy_Campus_-.jpg_M._Nelson_Loveland.jpg">Randal Martin / Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>These new vouchers aren’t likely to help kids</h2>
<p>Do these vouchers improve student achievement? The research suggests that we shouldn’t expect children’s learning to be affected.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.floridaschoolchoice.org/pdf/FTC_Research_2012-13_report.pdf">evaluation of Florida’s neovoucher law</a> – which <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-devos-florida-school-choice-20170409-story.html">the Trump administration appears to be using as its model</a> – found that students receiving these neovouchers had a nonsignificant (-0.7 percentile points) loss in math and nonsignificant (+0.1 percentile points) gain in reading on standardized test scores. </p>
<p>Similarly, research focused on conventional vouchers has tended to reach this <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/school-vouchers-are-not-a-proven-strategy-for-improving-student-achievement">same conclusion</a>, finding no significant change in student test scores. More recent studies, looking at conventional vouchers in <a href="http://migrationcluster.ucdavis.edu/events/past-events/events_2015-2016/conf_assets/aclec/papers_and_slides/paper_walters.pdf">Louisiana</a>, <a href="https://edex.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/publication/pdfs/FORDHAM%20Ed%20Choice%20Evaluation%20Report_online%20edition.pdf">Ohio</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/on-negative-effects-of-vouchers/">Indiana</a> actually find that test scores have declined – in some cases, by surprisingly large margins.</p>
<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p>While, thus far, neovoucher policies have existed only on the state level, proposals are now appearing at a federal level.</p>
<p>In February of 2017, Rep. Todd Rokita of Indiana and three Republican colleagues introduced a bill (<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/895">H.B. 895</a>) that sets forth the basic structure for a federal neovoucher policy.</p>
<p>But the particulars of the neovoucher policy that ultimately emerges in the Republicans’ tax reform bill are up for grabs. Based on the wide variety of existing state neovoucher policies, it is possible that the federal proposal will provide a full 100 percent credit (as does H.B. 895) or a credit of only 50 or 65 percent. It might limit eligibility to children in families at the poverty level, or it might have expanded or even universal eligibility.</p>
<p>It also remains to be seen whether federal neovouchers would be allocated only in states with existing programs or might be distributed in all states, including those with no such laws.</p>
<p>Interestingly, some of the staunchest advocates of state-level neovouchers have expressed <a href="http://www.heritage.org/education/event/school-choice-and-national-education-policy-options-advancing-education-choice">concern and even opposition</a> to a federal initiative. Beyond general conservative resistance to federal overreach in education policy, they voice <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2017-03-24/liberals-conservatives-agree-big-mistake-for-white-house-to-push-private-school-choice">familiar concerns</a> about the likelihood of regulations following money, particularly from future Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>And, of course, a federal neovoucher program would face significant fiscal obstacles as well. Absent large cuts elsewhere, these policies would strain the federal budget, requiring some creative work on the part of lawmakers – particularly since the tax reform bill will have to be <a href="http://www.tpctax.com/washington-tax-insight-february-2017/">revenue neutral</a>. The cost of vouchers for even a fraction of the nation’s 57 million K-12 students could easily cost tens of billions.</p>
<p>This daunting price tag, however, probably won’t deter President Trump or Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who have stated their opposition to the “public” part of public schools, with Trump even denigrating them as socialistic “<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/trump-betsy-devos-overton-window">government schools</a>” that are part of the “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/american-carnage-a-close-reading-of-president-trumps-first-speech">American carnage</a>” that “leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge.”</p>
<p>It seems unlikely that they will forego their chance to give tax dollars to private education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74808/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Research for Kevin Welner's "NeoVouchers" book received support from the Rockefeller Foundation, through its Bellagio Center Residency Program.</span></em></p>As school choice advocates attempt to garner more widespread support for vouchers, a new kind of voucher system is growing: one that uses tax credits to subsidize private education.Kevin Welner, Professor, Education Policy & Law; Director, National Education Policy Center, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708432017-01-09T01:33:04Z2017-01-09T01:33:04ZWho is Betsy DeVos?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151992/original/image-20170106-18647-si5oul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos speaks in Grand Rapids, Michigan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: This is an updated version of an article first published on Jan. 8, 2017.</em></p>
<p>Since Donald Trump tapped Betsy DeVos to become the secretary of education, her name has been associated with a great deal of controversy and conversation. This came to fruition when she became the first Cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by a vice president’s tie-breaking vote.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/betsy-devoss-school-mission-1480024466">Much of this conversation</a> has centered around Devos’ controversial past as a supporter, lobbyist and financial donor to causes that directly support school choice and school vouchers, and how she might <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/opinion/betsy-devos-and-the-wrong-way-to-fix-schools.html?_r=0">further this cause as the next education secretary</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school-choice/what-is-school-choice/">School choice</a> is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/ravitch-will-school-choice-kill-public-education/2012/06/25/gJQABAor0V_blog.html?utm_term=.b2fb0fc16806">controversial</a> movement that advocates for parents to “choose” the school (public, private, religious, charter, home, online) they feel is best for their children. Tuition is paid for by redistributing funds from government public schools, or from vouchers that come from a government entity. School choice proponents believe this market-based approach spurs competition, <a href="https://www.edchoice.org/school_choice_faqs/how-does-school-choice-affect-public-schools/">causing all schools to improve</a>. </p>
<p>Trump made his support of school choice clear during his election campaign – <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/policies/education">Trump’s campaign promised</a> to earmark US$20 billion to the federal education budget to provide “choice” for students nationwide. </p>
<p>As a researcher of education policy and politics, related to <a href="http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Community-Schools/eSchools">e-schools</a> and brick-and-mortar charter schools, I’ve been following the dialogue within the political and educational community and the concerns over what her tenure as secretary of education will mean for school choice and public schools. </p>
<p>Critics worry that what DeVos worked toward in Michigan is a <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/EqualEd/2017/0104/In-Michigan-a-test-case-for-US-public-schools-under-Trump">foreshadowing for what is to come in the United States</a>. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/betsy-devos-michigan-school-experiment-232399">DeVos pushed school choice</a> for two decades in her home state of Michigan to improve education, with disappointing results.</p>
<p>Who exactly is Betsy DeVos and what can we learn from her past actions? </p>
<h2>Background</h2>
<p>Betsy DeVos’ most recent job was running the <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/">American Federation for Children</a>, an advocacy organization. The group’s <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/mission/">self-described mission</a> is “promoting school choice, with a specific focus on advocating for school vouchers, scholarship tax credit programs and Education Savings Accounts.” </p>
<p>In this role, DeVos lobbied the state of Michigan, and others, <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/betsy-devos-look-numbers/">for legislation that promotes school choice</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151994/original/image-20170106-18659-1ovvgkr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children line up at a charter school.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/neontommy/12488014164/in/photolist-k2wkx3-5emtNP-8tgBeB-5eqU5U-5eqMxw-5emuZr-dpjptd-6gJSKE-5eqSd5-5emtr6-5emoXT-5emtyg-5vj4gD-qGZ2FH-pGVci5-5emqee-8tgBtT-5emonD-k2wprL-rDLnAv-rBteS1-5vonTs-aAHrNV-aAHfDM-de4u6Z-8tgBfP-o2dQqj-5eqSwU-5emqmg-5emvLM-k2wmPw-5von4S-qnufNk-doHDpT-nB4mKu-4z593y-doHRMo-9iFHyD-5vomo9-qnmiu9-6peYW6-iyucDc-4FFE8G-iCKMic-rnbweu-8tgBL4-5emqRc-9udQVk-5emvpe-5vonxm">Neon Tommy</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Prior to running the American Federation for Children, DeVos was the chairwoman of the Republican Party of Michigan and served in other leadership roles in the Republican Party. </p>
<p>DeVos currently sits on the board of directors for the <a href="http://www.allianceforschoolchoice.org/">Alliance for School Choice</a> – a special interest organization that marshals donations toward legislative action in favor of school vouchers.</p>
<p>DeVos is married to the heir to the Amway fortune and together both are billionaires. <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/12/betsy_devos_would_be_first_ed_.html">Neither DeVos nor her children ever attended a public school</a>, which is unprecedented in the 35-year existence of the role of education secretary. Every education secretary to date either went to public school or had children that attended public schools. </p>
<h2>Michigan agenda and beyond</h2>
<p>While in Michigan, DeVos and her husband worked to advance the choice and voucher agenda substantially. Together, they started the <a href="http://www.glep.org/about-glep/">Great Lakes Education Project (GLEP)</a> which has worked to provide funding and private training to state legislators to advocate for the <a href="http://www.glep.org/glep-mission/">redirection of public funds</a> from traditional public schools to other options, including charter schools, private schools, parochial schools (private schools with a religious affiliation) and online schools. Several of these types of schools are run by <a href="http://nepc.colorado.edu/files/NEPC_NP-EMO-09-10.pdf">education management organizations that earn profit</a> from managing publicly funded schools. </p>
<p>GLEP actively <a href="http://www.glep.org/2016-campaign/">endorses candidates</a> that subscribe to the school choice agenda. Since Trump named DeVos his pick for education secretary, GLEP’s current head, Gary Naeyaert, has <a href="http://www.glep.org/betsy-devos-named-political-figure-of-the-year/">posted several</a> articles on GLEP’s website praising the work of DeVos. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/charterschoice/2016/12/betsy_devos_helped_create_michigan_charter_sector_how_its_doing.html?r=113331457&_ga=1.174998178.1888671687.1482882702">results of the increased choice in Michigan</a>, and Detroit more specifically, are not clear. <a href="http://urbancharters.stanford.edu/download/Urban%20Charter%20School%20Study%20Report%20on%2041%20Regions.pdf">Stanford University released a study</a> that claims that charter schools in Detroit have a slight edge over public schools. Conversely, a more recent study from New York City’s <a href="http://www.ibo.nyc.ny.us/iboreports/preferences-and-outcomes-a-look-at-new-york-citys-public-high-school-choice-process.pdf">Independent Budget Office questions</a> whether choice programs actually benefit lower-income students. <a href="https://theconversation.com/charter-schools-fabulous-or-failures-35995">Many scholars</a> have <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/11/02/school-choice.html">questioned</a> the broader choice agenda.</p>
<h2>Confirmation</h2>
<p>During <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?421224-1/education-secretary-nominee-betsy-devos-testifies-confirmation-hearing">Senate confirmation hearings in January</a>, DeVos created more controversy with her responses to several questions asked by members of the confirmation committee.</p>
<p>In one exchange, DeVos was asked if she supported schools being gun-free zones. Her response was that a school in Wyoming might need a gun <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/betsy-devos-grizzlies-wyoming-when-asked-about-guns-in-schools/">to fend off grizzly bears</a>. In another exchange, DeVos stated she was “confused” after declaring that the enforcement of a federal law for students with disabilities should be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/28/the-telling-letter-betsy-devos-wrote-to-clarify-her-position-on-u-s-disabilities-law/?utm_term=.ca494720161a">up to individual states</a>.</p>
<p>On Feb. 7, she became the first cabinet position in United States history to be confirmed by <a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/VPTies.pdf">a tie-breaking vote by the vice president</a>. Only two Republicans, Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), voted against her nomination.</p>
<h2>What’s the future?</h2>
<p>The question is, could DeVos influence policy?</p>
<p>Some might argue that in the United States, the federal government is secondary in crafting education policy because most educational decisions are left to states. </p>
<p>This is because the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/tenth_amendment">United States is a federal</a> governmental system, and the Constitution, under which this system is governed, does not mention or consider the provision of education.</p>
<p>Despite the traditional understanding of state-controlled education, the national government has taken more power in the last several decades. The Department of Education budget has <a href="https://ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget17/budget-factsheet.pdf">swelled to over $200 billion</a> from <a href="https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/history/edhistory.pdf">just under $20 billion in 1980</a>. Adding to the larger budget, Congress has passed several <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/saa.html">laws that promote educational accountability</a>, which tie additional federal funds to state implementation of these statutory suggestions. It took the latest piece of federal legislation, called the <a href="https://www.ed.gov/essa">Every Student Succeeds Act</a>, to put some of this power back to the states.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=382&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/151995/original/image-20170106-18641-iupg08.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Accountability is based on a system of standardized testing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shinealight/2220267854/in/photolist-4ocshf-jdmxFd-dwphu8-bzH2FN-2Ge5Ad-nN5dxA-8VvSaf-tX8Ls-tX8mH-tX8Gj-so3ioA-tX8g5-tX8tc-tX8dM-tX8BR-tX8oT-tX8aW-tX8xN-tX84J-tX814-tX87J-A6JZq-66JPu7-tX7TV-8vEXkh-f3rcu5-wR4xs-7KS76L-pbB4Yd-bSXrxr-4iLBEW-m2SWHp-a7M72W-787EzG-5xqRc3-na6KMt-9LPBnH-6akRDL-kDdac2-oW3LQq-oW9wQS-66Exo6-66JPK7-66Exat-8tZhVF-o9JVqP-6Fayur-4HDHhG-dwxpou-8vBVVr">Ryan McGilchrist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Accountability is based on a system of standardized tests that measure specific pieces of information. Proponents of choice and vouchers seem to look to these tests as the evidence that show whether or not students are learning. </p>
<p>This market-based approach is debated by <a href="http://www.nea.org/home/38711.htm">teachers’ unions</a>, parents and <a href="http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ750641.pdf">others in the public education field</a> – but all 50 states have adopted some sort of testing accountability.</p>
<p>The organizations with which Betsy DeVos has been involved view standardized testing data as an essential tool needed for accountability. <a href="http://www.federationforchildren.org/ed-choice-101/educational-choice/">They use this as the evidence</a> to support a movement that redistributes public school funds and gives parents the choice to send their children to private schools or charter schools. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1176146?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Some refer to this as privatization</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594511152/teacherscolleger">point out that</a> the effectiveness of federal choice policies <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/print/educ/Privatization.pdf">is still unclear.</a></p>
<p>How education policies might be influenced based on these past actions is hard to know. One early indication could be Trump’s budget proposal to the Congress. The education portion of his budget will reveal the intentions of the coming policies of the DeVos era and subsequent potential for “school choice.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70843/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Hornbeck does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Confirmed in a historic tie-breaking vote by Vice President Pence, Betsy DeVos will be the next secretary of education. Here’s what you need to know about her past legislative actions and proposals.Dustin Hornbeck, Ph.D. Student in Educational Leadership and Policy, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.