Tag: Betsy DeVos

Education Department withdrawing nearly 600 policy documents it says are outdated

The following article by Valerie Strauss was posted on the Washington Post website October 27, 2017:

The Education Department under Secretary Betsy DeVos is withdrawing nearly 600 policy guidance documents it says are outdated. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock )

The Education Department said Friday it is withdrawing nearly 600 policy guidance documents it says are outdated, including 72 in special education previously announced and others in offices dealing with K-12 and higher education.

The move is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce existing or planned regulations, many of them from the Obama administration. In education, Secretary Betsy DeVos has walked back policies and rules in higher education implemented by President Barack Obama to protect student borrowers trying to pay for college. She also withdrew guidance directing schools to allow transgender children to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. And she gave schools leeway in following earlier guidance on how to investigate sexual assaults on campus, saying that the rights of the accused had been trampled by the Obama-era rule. Continue reading “Education Department withdrawing nearly 600 policy documents it says are outdated”

DeVos rescinds 72 guidance documents outlining rights for disabled students

The following article by Moriah Balingit was posted on the Washington Post website October 21, 2017:

President Donald Trump looks at Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as he speaks during a meeting with parents and teachers, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. (Evan Vucci/AP)

The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous.

The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had “a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due to being outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective — 63 from the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and 9 from the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).” The documents, which fleshed out students’ rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act, were rescinded Oct. 2.

A spokeswoman for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos did not respond to requests for comment. Continue reading “DeVos rescinds 72 guidance documents outlining rights for disabled students”

Betsy DeVos announces rollback of Obama-era Title IX sexual assault guidelines

The following article by Emily C. Singer was posted on the Mic website September 6, 2017:

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Thursday announced that the Trump administration is rolling back sexual assault guidelines issued by former President Barack Obama’s administration.

“The system established by the prior administration has failed too many students,” DeVos said during a speech at George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. “That’s why we must do better, because the current approach isn’t working.”

However while DeVos said the guidelines will be rolled back, she did not announce any new policies that would immediately be put in place to help combat sexual assault on college and university campuses across the country.

“Our interest is in exploring all alternatives that would help schools meet their Title IX obligations and protect all students,” DeVos said. “We welcome input and look forward to hearing more ideas.”

In 2011, the Obama administration told colleges and universities that they have an obligation under Title IX to combat sexual harassment and sexual assault on campus. If colleges and universities did not meet that obligation, the Obama administration threatened to pull their federal funding. Continue reading “Betsy DeVos announces rollback of Obama-era Title IX sexual assault guidelines”

The Stakes Are Too High to Ignore the Trump-DeVos Agenda

The following article by Catherine Brown and Meg Benner was posted on the Center for American Progress website September 5, 2017:

In the wake of the 2016 presidential election, some advocates1 and philanthropists are shifting their focus and energy from the federal level to the state and local level in the hopes of maintaining the momentum of gains made by the Obama administration. As Ernest Young, a professor at Duke University, describes, “[f]ederalism is not a conservative or liberal thing. … It offers a way of not having all your eggs in one basket.”2 This approach is important but incomplete.

Since the nation’s founding, states and the school districts they created have been in the driver’s seat when it comes to education policy; they are central to the academic outcomes and well-being of children nationwide. While the No Child Left Behind era saw a strengthened federal role and increased federal funding for education,3 states and localities have always provided the vast majority of school funding and made the majority of important decisions about how schools operate. Continue reading “The Stakes Are Too High to Ignore the Trump-DeVos Agenda”

DeVos continues carrying out ALEC’s agenda by dismantling for-profit college accountability

The following article by Brett Robertson was posted on the Media Matters website August 25, 2017:

In a little-noticed action, on August 18, the Department of Education announced a rule change that will further loosen accountability of for-profit colleges. The move signals a continuation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ American Legislative Exchange Council-inspired agenda: favoring the interests of fraudulent for-profit colleges over victimized students, and dismantling higher education accountability structures.

In 2010, the administration of then-President Barack Obama announced new rules designed to ensure that for-profit career preparatory colleges yielded appropriate levels of “gainful employment” for their graduates. According to The Washington Post, the rule “effectively would shut down for-profit programs that repeatedly fail to show, through certain measures, that graduates are earning enough to pay down the loans taken out to attend those programs.” After a series of court challenges, and a process of negotiated rulemaking, the final guidelines were set to be instituted on July 1, 2017. Even before the rules were implemented, evidence indicated that the pending gainful employment regulations were already having an impact, with many colleges proactively shutting down programs that might have been noncompliant. Continue reading “DeVos continues carrying out ALEC’s agenda by dismantling for-profit college accountability”

Deeply Unpopular, DeVos and ALEC in Lockstep in Trying to Destroy Public Education

The following article by Jennifer Berkshire was posted on the AlterNet website July 23, 2017:

Teachers, parents and business leaders are rising up to resist DeVos and ALEC’s extreme agenda.

Credit:  AP/Alex Brandon

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ speech to the American Legislative Exchange Council met with protests before she’d even arrived in Denver. But teachers and activists aren’t the only ones objecting to the extreme, anti-public education agenda DeVos shares with ALEC. One of the great questions of our time is just how far to the fringe the right wing of the Republican Party can march before the business-minded set steps in and yanks the chain. ALEC’s education platform is providing a real-time test case.

Virtually everything you need to know about ALEC’s education priorities is captured in the group’s most recent Report Card on American Education. Here, “forward-thinking” states like Arizona reign supreme thanks to a ranking system that prizes freedom from the education monopoly above all. Arizona’s high school graduation rate may be a full 25 percent lower than my own adopted home state of Massachusetts (languishing at #32 on the ALEC scale), but at least students aren’t choked by burdensome homeschooling regulations. In fact, thanks to far-sighted lawmakers like Arizona ALEC state chair Debbie Lesko (ALEC lawmaker of the year ’16), young Arizonans can now eschew school for a buffet of “a la carte learning options,” paid for with pre-loaded edu-debit cards, a vision DeVos regards as a model. Continue reading “Deeply Unpopular, DeVos and ALEC in Lockstep in Trying to Destroy Public Education”

Florida’s education system — the one Betsy DeVos cites as a model — is in chaos

The following article by Valerie Strauss was posted on the Washington Post website July 22, 2017:

President Trump speaks to fourth-grade students as he tours St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando on March 3, with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, second from left, as well as White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, left, and Ivanka Trump. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

The K-12 education system in Florida — the one that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos likes to praise as a model for the nation — is in chaos.

Traditional public school districts are trying to absorb the loss of millions of dollars for the new school year that starts within weeks. That money, which comes from local property taxes, is used for capital funding but now must be shared with charter schools as a result of a widely criticized $419 million K-12 public education bill crafted by Republican legislative leaders in secret and recently signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott — at a Catholic school.

Critics, including some Republicans, say the law will harm traditional public schools, threaten services for students who live in poverty and curb local control of education while promoting charter schools and a state-funded voucher program. Continue reading “Florida’s education system — the one Betsy DeVos cites as a model — is in chaos”

6 Things Betsy DeVos Has Done on Higher Ed

The following article by Ben Miller was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 29, 2017:

Education Secretary’s Higher Education Report Card at the 2017 Midpoint

AP/Alex Brandon —
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion in Orlando, FL, on March 3, 2017.

July 1 marks the beginning of a new year for federal financial aid for higher education, bringing changes that will affect the millions of Americans who use these programs. On the positive side, low-income students will be able to access additional Pell Grant aid thanks to Congress bringing back year-round Pell, a program that provides additional funds for students who attempt more coursework—often during a summer session. In less fortunate news, the annual reset of student loan interest rates resulted in a 69-basis point increase to 4.45 percent for undergraduates.

Though neither the funding for year-round Pell Grants nor the increased interest rate were the direct result of actions by the U.S. Department of Education, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her team have not been sitting on their hands. In just under five months on the job, DeVos and the Trump administration have initiated several actions that could have significant effects on higher education and student debt over the long run. Continue reading “6 Things Betsy DeVos Has Done on Higher Ed”

Changes in Service Contracts Leave Students Behind

The following article by Colleen Campbell and Sara Garcia was posted on the Center for American Progress website June 1, 2017:

AP/Carolyn Kaster
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 24, 2017.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos claims that the recent shake-up in the student loan servicing model is aimed at “treating students as customers,” but her actions say otherwise. Instead, DeVos and the Trump administration have taken steps to pad the pockets of some of the biggest companies responsible for guiding more than 32 million borrowers through the process of repaying their federal student loans.

In a move that will put borrowers’ interests on the back-burner, the U.S. Department of Education recently amended a request for bids on a new federal student loan servicing contract. The changes strip multiple requirements that would ensure that borrowers—especially those with a high risk of default—receive the best servicing when it comes to their loans. Secretary DeVos framed the move as a cost-saving measure, but the contract still leaves in place many high-cost features, suggesting the motivation may be more political than practical. The result: One company will be allowed to call the shots on more than $1 billion in servicing activities with reduced oversight from the Department of Education. Continue reading “Changes in Service Contracts Leave Students Behind”

This is what Betsy DeVos thinks about people who oppose her school-choice vision

The following article by Valerie Strauss was posted on the Washington Post website May 29, 2017:

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks at a school-choice event as President Trump looks on at the White House on May 3. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

During the Obama administration, Education Secretary Arne Duncan got pretty steamed at people who opposed his school reform efforts, especially his support for the Common Core State Standards. In 2013, for example, he went after Core critics, telling a group of state schools superintendents:

“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary.”

Continue reading “This is what Betsy DeVos thinks about people who oppose her school-choice vision”