By on February 28, 2017 12:13 PM
The top two Democratic lawmakers on education issues in Congress are asking for more details from Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about her stated plans to look for ways to trim the U.S. Department of Education.
In a Feb. 24 letter to DeVos, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia and Sen. Patty Murray of Washington express concerns about DeVos’ comments to a Michigan radio talk show earlier this month that she would be auditing the department’s programs, and that she was confident there were unnecessary programs at the department. Those comments, the two lawmakers say, “raise questions” about what DeVos hopes to accomplish by such a review. (Scott and Murray are the top Democrats on the House and Senate education committees, respectively.)
“In fact, previous department budget requests have noted that current staff levels fall significantly short, endangering the department’s capacity to fulfill and enforce legal obligations” in several areas, from civil rights protections to data security, the joint letter states…
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