Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) called the Trump administration’s reported education budget an “abomination” in a statement sent to PoliticusuSA.
“The Trump administration’s reported education budget is an abomination,” Booker said. “Attacking programs that support teachers and public education under the guise of ‘reform’ is no way to improve educational outcomes for American kids. By dramatically slashing funding from important initiatives, such as after-school programs, teacher training, student loans, and the Office of Civil Rights, this budget will set students back, not put them ahead.”
Booker’s statement is a response to reports of President Trump’s education budget indicating that he wants to cut $10.6 billion from federal education initiatives and push school choice, according to documents of the preliminary budget obtained by the Washington Post.
While spending $400 million to expand charter schools, the budget may cut student loan forgiveness, and “gone” would be $1.2 billion for after-school programs that tend to serve poor children and “$2.1 billion for teacher training and class-size reduction.” The budget outlines cuts of (as in, elimination of) “a $15 million program that provides child care for low-income parents in college; a $27 million arts education program; two programs targeting Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students, totaling $65 million; two international education and foreign language programs, $72 million; a $12 million program for gifted students; and $12 million for Special Olympics education programs.”
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The Post noted that while expenditures under Title 1 funds remain unchanged to the first half of fiscal 2017, “high-poverty schools are likely to receive fewer dollars than in the past because of a new law that allows states to use up to 7 percent of Title I money for school improvement before distributing it to districts.”
Booker said the budget as reported works against the goals of helping poor children ensure a quality public school education, “I’ve long-supported targeted, accountable public school choice initiatives to help ensure that poor children in chronically failing schools have the opportunity to receive a quality public education, but this budget would work against those goals and undermine our efforts to ensure our education system works for all.”
While the budget as reported reflects current Republican ideology as one would expect from a Republican president, Trump continues to jump the shark by taking conservative beliefs to such an extreme that they produce a negative shock wave throughout the country.
This is not how real change is made. Real change is made by appealing to the people and building political capital.
Just like Trumpcare’s disastrous presentation, the Trump education plan is one that will not appeal to even many moderate Republicans.
The completed budget will be unveiled next week.
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