Trump, DeVos hail tuition program in Florida as the future of education
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — President Donald Trump on Friday hailed a Florida school tuition assistance program as the future of education, joining Betsy DeVos, his education secretary, at a Catholic elementary classroom to kick off an intense political battle on behalf of school choice in the United States.
The president and DeVos, who for years championed school vouchers as an antidote to failing schools and falling test scores, met with parents, teachers and students at St. Andrew Catholic School, which has embraced a Florida program that uses public money to allow low-income students to attend private schools.
Hundreds of low-income students, many of them African-Americans, attend the private religious school thanks to tuition assistance from the Florida Tax Credit scholarship program. Critics say it diverts money that would otherwise go to the state’s public school system.
Tuition at the school, just outside Orlando, is normally $6,260 per year, according to the school’s website. The Florida scholarship program allows businesses in the state to receive tax credits for donating to nonprofit scholarship organizations that give tuition assistance for students to attend schools like St. Andrew. The families’ portion of the tuition bill varies.
The program’s goals, according to the website, are to “expand education opportunities for children from families that have limited financial resources; and to enable children to achieve a greater level of excellence in their education.”
Such programs are at the heart of the promised changes that DeVos and Trump hope to bring to federal education policy.
But they are seen by teachers’ unions and many Democrats as destructive to the health of public education systems, offering a false promise of choice while undermining the financial stability of public schools.
Democrats assailed DeVos for her support of vouchers during her contentious Senate confirmation hearing. But Friday’s visit to the religious school is a clear indication that she has no intention of backing down from her advocacy of the idea.
She also has the clear backing of the president, who said during his address to Congress this week that he would seek to “enrich the mind, and the souls” of children across the country.
“I am calling upon members of both parties to pass an education bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino children,” Trump said in the speech. “These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them.”