Education Secretary Betsy DeVos proposed massive cuts in the budget request for fiscal 2020, including eliminating $17.6 million to support the Special Olympics.
“We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to invest in systems and policies that are not yielding better results,” DeVos said in her budget request statement before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on Tuesday.
In the proposal, DeVos said the department is requesting a $7.1 billion reduction in overall funding for Education Department programs, a 10 percent decrease from appropriated funds from fiscal 2019.
“This reduction is similar to last year’s request, and the year before that, as well,” DeVos said in her prepared testimony before the committee. “I acknowledge that you rejected those recommendations. I also acknowledge that it’s easier to keep spending, to keep saying ‘yes,’ and to keep saddling tomorrow’s generations with today’s growing debt. But, as it’s been said, the government will ‘run out of other people’s money.’”
In her prepared testimony, DeVos cited the fact that spending on education has increased by 180 percent over the past 40 years, accumulating to $1.2 trillion, but has not yielded better results in terms of quality.
“[W]e’re still 24th in reading, 25th in science, and 40th in math when compared to the rest of the world. Doing the same thing — and more of it — won’t bring about new results,” DeVos said. “I propose a different approach: freedom.”
In proposing cuts to certain areas, DeVos also requested a $60 million increase in charter school funding.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., who is chairwoman of the subcommittee, said that proposal was “cruel and reckless” and claimed it would “hurt the middle class and low-income families that need our help,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
