Andrew Crighton
News Editor
President-elect Donald Trump has been making headlines with his transition team and who he will appoint to Cabinet positions once he takes office.
Since his election, we have also finally been getting some more specific information on the policies he proposed during his campaign, education included. So what is Trump’s education plan?
Trump’s education plan revolves around three key principles: ending Common Core, providing school choice and removing the federal government from the student loan industry.
The main aspect of Trump’s education plan is focused on giving students and the parents the “right to choose,” when it comes to which educational institution they attend whether it be a public, private or charter school.
Trump’s plan would reappropriate $20 billion in education funds and use it to give parents a voucher of approximately $12,000 per student that could be redeemed at a private, public or charter school. For that amount per student, Trump’s plan specifies that cumulatively the states must contribute an additional $110 billion, 5.5 times the amount provided by the federal government.
The theory behind this voucher system is that allowing students to choose what type of school they attend would increase competition, forcing public schools to either improve or close.
Studies examining the effectiveness of this voucher system at the state level are sparse, and many have conflicting findings.
Indiana has a voucher program pushed through by Governor Mike Pence, the Vice President-elect.
The state has had increasing scores in the National Assessment of Educational Progress for fourth and eighth-graders. While the voucher program could contribute to this, the two are not necessarily directly correlated.
In the other field, an ongoing study at the University of Notre Dame has preliminary data showing that students who transferred to private schools from public schools using the voucher program did worse in math.
Opponents of the voucher program also cite Teresa Meredith, President of of the Indiana State Teachers Association. Meredith stated that only a small percentage of students use the vouchers to leave a failing public school. The majority of those using the vouchers redeem them at private religious educational institutions. Critics claim that it is wrong and violates the separation of church and state to use state tax dollars to fund a private religious education.
Common Core is a standard for public education system curriculums that was created in an attempt to stop the dropping in rankings of American K-12 students.
As stated within the Common Core website, it is based on a series of standards including, “Research- and evidence-based and rigorous content and application of knowledge through higher-order thinking skills.”
There has been a lot of criticism of Common Core. Some educators claim that the K-3 standards are inappropriate for the development stage of students in that grade range. Other criticisms come from the perception that it was forced upon the states by the federal government and that education should be managed at the local level.
Trump’s objection to Common Core is based on this notion, with him being quoted saying, “We cannot have the bureaucrats in Washington telling you how to manage your child’s education.”
While President Obama did provide a monetary incentive for states to accept the Common Core standard, all states that chose to accept it did so at their own discretion.
Critics of this part of Trump’s plan claim that forcibly ending Common Core constitutes an overstepping of Presidential authority. President Obama did not have the authority to enact it across the board, and President-elect Trump would not have the authority to remove it across the board.
The final major piece of Trump’s education plan is focused on the federal government being involved in the business of giving out student loans to individuals in post-secondary education.
The theory behind privatizing the student loan industry is again, to allow the market to drive and control student loans. Higher competition from private companies would develop better rates for students.
Eric Hanushek, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative-leaning think tank at Stanford University, said in an interview with NPR, “I just don’t think that’s realistic.”
The government has always played a role in selling student loans.
“Private lenders are not about to enter into that market sufficiently to make loans to all students. It would be wise not to get the government out of student loans altogether,” Hanushek said.
