April 20, 2018: Some Good New on the Education Front

Posted on April 20, 2018 at 12:00 AM

• Betsy DeVos’ plan to cut the Department of Education’s budget by $3.6 billion met with opposition from lawmakers. Instead, Congress increased the budget by $3.9 billion. In addition, lawmakers did not support her funding for school choice programs.
• Civil rights groups met with Secretary DeVos in early April to review a roll back in Obama-era guidelines regarding school discipline policies that may adversely impact Black students. Critics argue that decreasing these protections continues to undermine students’ civil rights and impinges on enforcement of Title VI.
• In the area of education, the Maryland House of Delegates passed a bill approving funding for additional school resource/security officers in Maryland schools. Funding was also approved ($30 million down payment), to encourage the top 25% of graduating seniors to pursue a career in teaching. In addition, this bill included increased funding in pre-K education.
• The Maryland State Education Association, a 74,000 member teacher’s union, has endorsed Ben Jealous as Democratic candidate for governor in Maryland. They cite his strong views and his vision on matters pertaining to public school education.

–Dianna E. Washington, Ph.D.

Chair, Education and Children’s Task Force