Ed. chief DeVos tours Valencia in Osceola
KISSIMMEE — New U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Friday she is considering extending federal financial aid year-round for students and wants to give community colleges more attention.
She made the comments during a visit to Valencia College’s Osceola County campus. “Community colleges are a tremendous option, a tremendous opportunity and a tremendous on-ramp for many students,” said DeVos, on her first solo trip out of Washington since becoming education chief.
DeVos heard from a mix of school officials, business leaders, Valencia students and recent graduates who pushed the importance of job training for construction and manufacturing in today’s workforce.
The education chief said she was traveling to learn more about community colleges, calling Valencia a shining example of a school that worked.
“If you’re looking for a poster child, this is the one I want you to use,” Lockheed Martin vice president Pat Sunderlin told DeVos inside the school’s manufacturing center.
Later, Orange County Schools Superintendent Barbara Jenkins and a group of high school students from the region voiced their support for dual enrollment — a program where high school students can earn college credit.
Farrah Lubin juggles online Valencia courses with classes at Poinciana High. The teenager is on the long path to becoming a physician.
“The main reason I did dual enrollment was to help my parents,” the high school junior told DeVos during a student round table held at the main Osceola campus.
DeVos said little on the tour and mostly listened.
When asked about President Donald Trump’s proposed budget cuts to public schools, DeVos told reporters Friday the funding plan was not complete. “We’re focused on investing in the things that have been proven to work,” she said.
She was asked how her office would hold higher education institutions, including for-profit colleges, accountable for student outcomes. She did not offer specifics, saying, “Stay tuned.”
DeVos has deep ties to Florida from her role as part owner of the Orlando Magic; she also has donated campaign money to several local school board races.
Friday was her second visit to Central Florida this month since joining Trump on a March 3 tour of a private Orlando Catholic school.
One of the first students DeVos met Friday was David Dimicco, a St. Cloud man who got his bachelor’s degree in international business in the ’90s in New York but returned to school years later for more skills. The Valencia training at the Osceola County manufacturing center was a “godsend,” he said. He’ll graduate this summer as an electrical mechanical-engineering technician.
Valencia has been on the national radar since it was named the top community college in the nation in 2011 by winning the first-ever Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. It has about 70,000 students at five campuses in Osceola and Orange counties. The school is known for job training skills, such as construction and manufacturing, but also educating students for their associate’s degrees so they can move on to four-year programs.