Dept. of Education needs someone new at the helm
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” — Benjamin Franklin
It’s no secret I have no love for the Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the way she runs the department of education. Her most recent underhanded and slimy action toward public education has raised my anger even further.
Recently, DeVos and the department she runs decided on an under-the-radar bookkeeping change to drastically hamper the Rural and Low-Income School Program, which provides funding for school districts in some of the poorest parts of the country.
Now these poorer districts have to submit census data that must prove that at least 20 percent of their areas’ school-age children live in poverty.
But the census often leaves out many people in rural areas. Take for instance our very own Shaffer School District. This means districts will struggle to account for all children in their local areas who would qualify.
Education funding is one of the smallest parts of the national budget, floating around two percent each year for the past decade. However, now that allotment will now take a far larger hit thanks to this reduction, and it will effect some of the lowest income families in our nation.
How a woman who has bragged about buying politicians, defunding public education and allowing for-profit colleges to rip off students even more is still at the helm is beyond my fathoming.
I am not alone in my condemnation of DeVos as Democrat and Republican lawmakers haven’t been shy in their disgust in this most recent move. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, stated, “Providing a quality school education is one of the government’s biggest responsibilities. With this decision DeVos earns yet another ‘F.’”
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer of civilization, to allow those who may live in poverty the fighting chance to make their way out of it.
How in good conscience can the person who leads our education department have the gall to hurt some of the most vulnerable students in our country?
