Donald Trump visited a school in Cleveland yesterday and released his first education policy proposals. The problem? It turns out his main idea isn’t good for kids – or schools.
Trump’s speech and press release did not include many details, but it appears that he aims to turn about 54 percent of the Department of Education’s funding for K-12 education into a voucher-style program in which federal funds could be used for private school tuition. Trump even said, “Distribution of this grant will favor states that have private school choice.”
But this proposal is shortsighted, and Congress rejected a similar plan in 2015. Under Trump’s plan, 11 million low-income students would have to split $20 billion. That comes out to a little over $1,800 per student, an amount unlikely to cover tuition at any decent private school when the national average private school tuition is over $11,000.