How will President Trump improve education?

A new president has been elected and will take office come January 20th. He will have many challenges to confront; terrorism, crime, immigration, and healthcare just to name a few. As Oakton students, the issue  that affects us the most will be education.

While the promises of a candidate on a campaign trail do not always translate into policy proposals, they are great indicators. Trump has promised to push a “market driven” approach to education. Trump has promised to end Title I and divert the money toward a twenty million dollar grant for a federal voucher program and supports parental choice. Following Trump’s election, he promised school choice to “every single inner city child in America”.

Some possible picks for Trump’s education secretary include retired neurosurgeon turned 2016 presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson and William M. Evers, an education expert at the Hoover Institution. As Trump has very little of a track record in regards to education, he could potentially turn to Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s positions on education. During his governorship of Indiana, Pence wanted schools to have little involvement of the federal government and back charter schools and voucher programs. Nearly 60 percent of Indiana children are eligible for school vouchers of over 4,000 dollars a year.

It is unclear what exactly the Trump administration’s approach to education will be, but we know one thing: whether or not we support the cause, it will involve more school choice.

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Glossary:

School voucher: A government funded education at a private school.

School choice: The term of offering students and their families choice over where they attend school, often through the government offering vouchers.

Charter school: A government funded school that has its own autonomy over its curriculum.