BY CAMERON STEPHENS
The 2016 presidential election has brought about a lot of change in our country; the high-profile election resulted in a transition in a number of areas that our nation hasn’t undergone in a longtime.
The election has brought about changes to the way public and private schools are going to be run; with the confirmation of Betsy Devos as Secretary of Education, the new head of the education department will affect the way that our school is run.
Betsy DeVos, a Michigan born philanthropist who has dedicated the majority of her political career towards bettering the education of our nation, has come under scrutiny recently for her proposed platform. DeVos pushes for Pro-choice; which means that she wants to encourage parents to look at the option of private schools over public schools. Because of this, she is going to propose that federal funds that are reserved for the education sector are equally distributed to public schools and the development of private/charter schools. This means public schools would see a decrease in funding.
“I have looked into her a bit and researched her proposals” says junior Mathew McGrory. “Ultimately, it comes down to whether or not you think that public schools need more funding or not.”
A lot of it comes down to many not knowing what the Education Secretary does or their role in government. Many, also, know nothing about her.
“I don’t know that much about her. I know she is a private school advocate, a billionaire, and I also know that she hasn’t had any experience working in public schools which is where the majority of the fear is being generated from,” says AP Government teacher, David Wolfford. “Public schools are run and controlled by the state, so the fear is mostly unfounded,” says Wolfford.
“Traditionally, the education is controlled at the state and the local level. Only in recent years has the federal government gotten really involved” says Principal Dr. James Renner. “The majority of the funding that the school receives comes from the state, and a tiny portion of it comes from the federal government. However, when you take that money, it comes with curriculum requirements and federal initiations,” says Renner.
Betsy DeVos is also known to be a proponent of school choice; examples of this are vouchers and charter schools. “What everyone needs to understand is that the Secretary of Education and her department can’t come in and immediately enforce their will on the public schools,” says Renner. “They bring in their own agenda/program that they want the states to institute. We saw this with ‘No Child Left Behind’ and the Bush administration,” explains Renner.
DeVos’s nomination has been met with widespread criticism; her nomination required Vice President Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote, the first time that has been done in American history.
“There is a lot of unknowns about Devos when it comes to her philosophies… She is a proponent of school choice, which at times can be detrimental to public schools,” says Superintendent Steve Estepp. “The federal government certainly has the authority to pass legislation and issue mandates that the state has to implement” says Estepp.
“My hope is that we see fewer federal and state mandates and more local control so that we have the authority to make policy decisions that are best for our students and community” says Estepp.