As President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede the presidential election and instead take a defiant victory lap, his administration is also pushing forward with a final mission to reshape the Department of Education.
Despite President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and the ongoing legal battles over the election results, Trump has been holding rallies and tweeting about his supposed win. He has also been making baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, despite no evidence to support his allegations.
In the midst of this chaos, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been working diligently to enact policies that will have a lasting impact on the nation’s education system. DeVos, a staunch advocate for school choice and charter schools, has been pushing for policies that would expand these options for parents and students.
One of the key initiatives DeVos has been pushing for is the implementation of Education Freedom Scholarships, a program that would provide federal tax credits for donations to scholarship-granting organizations. These organizations would then provide scholarships to students to attend private or religious schools, as well as for homeschooling expenses.
Critics of the program argue that it would divert much-needed funding away from public schools and further exacerbate the already-existing disparities in education. They also point out that the program could potentially violate the separation of church and state by funneling taxpayer dollars to religious institutions.
DeVos has also been working to roll back regulations put in place by the Obama administration, such as guidelines on campus sexual assault and transgender rights in schools. She has been a vocal critic of what she sees as federal overreach in education and has been working to give more power back to the states and local school districts.
As the Trump administration enters its final days, it remains to be seen how successful DeVos will be in implementing her agenda. With the incoming Biden administration likely to take a very different approach to education policy, it is unclear how much of DeVos’s work will be able to withstand the transition.
In the meantime, Trump continues to cling to his claims of victory, even as more and more states certify their election results and courts across the country dismiss his legal challenges. As the nation prepares for a new administration, the Department of Education’s final mission under Trump’s leadership is sure to have a lasting impact on the future of education in America.
