Friday, May 19, 2017

Trump/DeVos plan to make Public Schools look bad just so they can sell choice to private-for-profits and religious schools.

Well, a big congratulation to Trump voters who thought, what the heck, let’s take a chance.

Those voters who believed millionaire Trump would help the little people…well, you’re about to get socked with higher education costs. There goes Scott Walker's tax savings, and more. No free lunch.

Public schools are on the outs and private unaccountable for-profit schools will be squeezing every dollar out you soon. Moyers and Company

Trump’s Education Budget Feeds School Privatization at The Expense of Students: The Post reports, deep spending cuts — a net $9.2 billion or 13.6 percent — for many “long-standing programs” that largely serve children and youth from low-income households.

At the same time, more money would go to incentivize “alternatives to traditional public schools” at the K-12 level and increase the costs of college loans, a federal program with significant ties to the financial services industry.
Why is Trump and DeVos doing this? 


(It) cuts programs that make public schools attractive options for parents, especially in low-income communities, while boosting federal support for “school choice” that incentivizes parents to turn to charter schools and private schools instead.
1. $1.2 billion for after-school programs would be eliminated,

2. (Eliminate) $2.1 billion for teacher training programs that lead to class-size reductions in schools.

3. Funding that supports arts education, international studies and foreign languages get the axe.

4. Federal help for educating Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian students and gifted students are killed.

5. A $400 million fund to pay for an array of school-enriching services and academics — such as mental-health support, anti-bullying programs and advanced courses — gets zero.

6. Even money for Special Olympics education programs would be gone.

7. Schools would get a lot less money from the federal government for technical education, adult basic literacy instruction.

8. Trump and DeVos would take $1 billion out of the federal government’s Title I funds — money sent to the states to support educating poor children — to a new grant program that incentivizes those states to fund the competitive privately operated schools such as charters and religious schools. The grant program is called Furthering Options for Children to Unlock Success (FOCUS) that only goes to school districts that “agree to allow students to choose which public school they attend — and take their federal, state and local dollars with them.”

9. The proposed budget provides “$500 million for charter schools, up 50 percent over current funding.” 
Trump and DeVos aren't done yet reaching into your pockets, hurting the economy and stuffing your hard earned cash into the pockets of billionaire bankers...
10. The “reshaping” includes cutting loans and work-study programs for disadvantaged students and ending subsidized loans for students still in schools and the program that forgives college loans for students who eventually take jobs in the public sector. Eliminating these student loan programs means “the government could eventually make more money off of student loans” 

But not only is it ethically problematic for our government to treat college students like cash cows; it’s also just another way to ensure more money for education is directed to the immense financial empire that profits off servicing those loans, refinancing the debt and collecting on loans that go into default.
Yea, Trump is gonna take care of the disenfranchised. Suckers. 

And here's a tricky one...
$250 million for grants that would ”pay for expanding and studying the impacts of vouchers for private and religious schools.

As the Post reporters explain, “It’s not clear how much would be spent on research versus the vouchers themselves.” But what’s also unclear is how one studies the “impacts” of an initiative simultaneously as it rolls out. Rather than a research endeavor, this additional money sounds more like it’s for a marketing program.
Shredding college affordability so banks can make more money is spelled out in this Post report sidebar.

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