President Trump has issued an order to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos that may finally reign in burdensome federal regulations on the education system.
He’s calling the order “another critical step to restoring local control” to individual education districts.
Common Core is now most likely on the chopping block.
The New York Times reports:
President Trump issued a sweeping review of federal education policies on Wednesday in an executive order to pinpoint areas where the government may be overstepping in shaping operations of local school systems.
The order requires Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s education secretary, to review, modify and possibly repeal any regulations and guidelines that are not consistent with federal law.
DeVos, who has been a vocal advocate of school choice and other small-government education solutions, is relishing this opportunity.
Excited to join @VP to highlight how school choice benefits students & families. Join us live at 9:30 am EDT: https://t.co/Cb9o6TfWnu
— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) May 3, 2017
The Secretary of Education says that the order to review federal education regulations is a “welcomed opportunity” and “a clear mandate to take that real hard look at what we’ve been doing at the department level that we shouldn’t be doing, and what ways we have overreached.”
Teachers, parents, and most small-government advocates agree that Common Core curriculum, handed down to schools across the nation, was a HUGE overreach.
It is highly unlikely that the system won’t be flagged during DeVos’ review. Especially as grassroots efforts to bring an end to Common Core have brought it back into national discussion.
This Student’s Common Core #Math Work Was Marked Wrong. 5+5+5=15 or 3+3+3+3+3=15? #CommonCore https://t.co/tHwBz9xYRI via @POPSUGARMoms
— S&C Coach E. (@goliath1214) April 15, 2017
The extensive review is to take place within the next 300 days, and its findings will be released publicly.
Senior Department of Education official Rob Goad says that the review’s ultimate goal is to get the department on the right track to ensure that local leaders have the final say “about what happens in the classroom.”
While liberals are wringing their hands, worrying about Washington no longer being a “watch dog” to crack down on local school districts, the rest of the country is ready to get bureaucratic tape out of the way of its children’s learning.
The New York Times reports:
Mr. Trump’s order was lauded by the Center for Education Reform, which advocates school-choice policies. In a statement, its founder, Jeanne Allen, said that conducting the review was “part and parcel of ensuring that education innovation, and opportunity, are able to take root throughout our various education sectors.”
“The process will also allow the public to learn just how much oversight occurs as a result of bureaucracy, not law, and pave the way for all schools to focus on outcomes, not compliance,” Ms. Allen said.
Federal meddling has required educators and schools to spend all of their resources and energy on impractical policies and requirements that often don’t even truly concern education, especially in the last couple decades.
Even at its best, federal guidance offers only cookie-cutter methods of teaching that expect to get better results by treating all districts and students the same.
For example, the No Child Left Behind policy had the unintended consequence of slowing advanced and average students down, while students with below-average test scores caught up, causing teachers to spend time that would have been dedicated to new subjects simply repeating the previous ones.
At its worst, federal education regulations take on political overtones that have little actual consideration for any student’s needs.
The Obama administration was fraught with such “politically correct” guidelines, from then-First Lady Michelle Obama’s disastrous school lunch plan to Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom orders.
Hopefully DeVos and the Trump administration take action quickly after this review is published, and give power back to parents, teachers, and local school districts to make sure students are able to do what they’re sent there to do — learn and grow.
