Washington — Plans to expand school choice from President Donald Trump may be generating a lot of attention but they should be taken with a dose of political reality, and not obscure other key issues.
That was one of the main messages from a panel of K-12 advocates discussing the changing politics of education at the annual conference of the Education Writers Association here on Wednesday. Left- and right-leaning advocates sparred about the hypothetical impact of $9.2 billion in cuts to the U.S. Department of Education proposed by Trump last week, and whether the Republican-controlled Congress is interested in the GOP president’s pitch for a $1.4 billion school choice initiative.
There was a general consensus, however, that in the age of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, education reporters would do well to see how or if national debates impact things such as school choice and spending in states and local communities. After all, only about 10 percent of funding for public schools comes from the federal government…
Read the full article here. May require an Education Week subscription.