Biden’s Policies Criticized By Trump’s DeVos
- 05-Jan-2021
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In a farewell letter to Congress on Monday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged lawmakers to reject President-elect Joe Biden’s education agenda, while imploring them to shield Trump administration policies that Biden has promised to eliminate.
DeVos does not explicitly acknowledge President Donald Trumps election defeat nor does she refer to Biden by name. Instead, her letter offers lawmakers some encouragement and closing thoughts. As DeVos prepares to exit the Education Department, she says the coronavirus pandemic has exposed much that is not encouraging” about U.S. education. While my time as Secretary is finite, my time as an advocate for children and students knows no limits, she said in the letter.
It was sent to leaders in the House and Senate and to committees that oversee the Education Department. DeVos offered an unemotional farewell to a Congress that had a chilly relationship with her from the start. DeVos made no mention of those disputes but instead offered sincere gratitude for your partnership on a range of education issues. Most of her major policies, however, were enacted through federal rulemaking and not through legislation passed by Congress. In her letter, she pledged to continue working with Congress doing whats right for Americas students.
DeVos pushed for nearly two years while failing to gain support from Democrats and many Republicans. Critics have said the idea amounts to a federal voucher program, but DeVos said it would empower families to choose the best options for their children an issue that she said has become increasingly important amid the pandemic. Many students particularly our most vulnerable students are suffering immeasurable harm as a result of schools failing to reopen and failing to educate, she wrote.
Trump and DeVos have pressed schools to reopen for in-person classes even as many school leaders say they lack the resources to do so safely. Biden has made it a priority to reopen schools within his first 100 days and says federal agencies will guide districts in their decisions. More broadly, DeVos urged Congress to direct federal education funding directly to families rather than to schools. She argued that that teachers and superintendents are more interested in supporting the system than students.
Given this precedent of choice and empowerment, it is impossible to understand how it is acceptable for federal taxpayer dollars to support a student attending the University of Notre Dame. DeVos letter directly opposes several of Bidens top education priorities, including his proposal to triple federal Title I funding for schools serving low-income students.
