Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump proposed a $20 billion school voucher education plan on Thursday that he said would enable children in poverty to attend the school of their choice, rather than be forced to attend a failing inner-city school.
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In a press conference following the event, Trump also repeated his pledge to repeal Common Core math and English standards nationwide, which attracted some derision even on the political right.
Each state will develop its own formula, but the dollars should follow the student.
Trump’s plan also calls for the institution of national merit pay for teachers to replace the tenure system, which he said rewards bad teachers with raises while failing to acknowledge teachers who exceed their peers in the classroom.
When he finally spoke out, it might have had some of you thinking, “Oh here we go, Trump is finally going to tell us about his awesome plans for better and more accessible education”. Now that he’s finally letting us mere mortals in on his plans for the (admittedly) dire state of American schools, I can sum up his policy for you with one ineffectual sound: Meh.
Does Trump’s school choice plan sound familiar?
Critics questioned Trump’s choice of the charter school which has received failing grades from the Ohio Department of Education for its students’ performance and progress on state math and reading tests.
It is therefore of importance that Trump once again came out against Common Core, the ultimate intrusion by the federal government into schools, both public and private. Teachers unions like the National Education Association are strictly against them. In Florida, the Tax Credit Scholarship Program is regularly supported by GOP lawmakers and opposed by many Democrats. “They’ll walk their children to schools they want to be at”.
The focus on education is a turn for Trump from his recent emphasis on a buildup of the US military and on his strident immigration proposals after his meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. “Let’s be clear: Trump’s proposal to apparently gut almost 30 percent of the federal education budget and turn it into private school vouchers would decimate public schools across America and deprive our most vulnerable students of the education the deserve”.
In July, Trump took in $80 million.
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“Education has to be run locally”, Trump wrote past year. “All the available evidence shows his ideas will only destabilize public schools and hurt kids”.
