Our show on Tuesday, April 25, 12:00-1:00 PM ET will focus on the controversial policies and appointments of the Trump Administration’s Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos. Confirmed on February 7th, only after VP Pence cast a tie-breaking vote, Betsy DeVos has continued to generate tremendous dispute by dismantling student loan and transgendered student protections and eliminating Obama era educational initiatives. Recently, a contentious battle has erupted in response to her nomination of Candice Jackson, for the position of Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, who has a history of anti-affirmative action advocacy and other questionable positions on civil rights law enforcement.
Our special guest will be Tanya Clay House, former Director of the Office of K-12, Chair of the Civil Rights Section of the National Bar Association, and recognized national expert on educational policy. Ms. Clay House helped to mold the Obama Administration Regulation on School Discipline which sought to decrease student suspensions and expulsions. While at the US Department of Education, she was the chief architect of the Rubric on School Resource Officers formulated to mandate training and other criteria to prevent abuse and misconduct.
The US Department of Education has an annual budget of $68 billion and establishes and enforces national policy impacting the 98,817 public schools, 6,800 public charter schools and thousands of higher educational institutions which enroll the 74.6 million students in the United States. Yet, Betsy DeVos revealed substantial incompetence regarding all aspects of educational policy during her confirmation hearings. A strong advocate for charter schools, she is expected to advance “pro-choice” policies adverse to public schools.
Already, the Education Department has rescinded several Obama Administration civil rights policies. Candice Jackson’s nomination to lead civil rights policy is contentious as she is inexperienced in this area, promotes anti-affirmative action advocacy and has taken very partisan positions during the presidential campaign to discredit and deflect sexual harassment allegations against then candidate Trump.
An extremely negative reversal on civil rights is probable. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Title VI, Title IX, the IDEA, the ADA, the Every Child Succeeds Act, constitutional and other statutory requirements and regulations. Under the Obama Administration in 2016 almost 17,000 civil rights complaints were processed. According to Barrett Holmes Pittner, “From 2009 to 2016 the OCR received over 76,000 complaints and resolved over 66,000, so the need for a strong OCR could not be more important.”
We will discuss the current status of civil rights and educational policy at the Department of Education. How will our nation’s public schools be affected by this new leadership? What policies changes can we expect at the K-12 and higher education levels? How do we prevent an erosion of civil rights law enforcement? What should the public do to insure educational equity?
These and other issues will be covered during our show. You don’t want to miss this program!
Be sure to listen live on Tuesday, 12:00-1:00 PM ET in the DC Metro Region at WOL 1450 AM and on the Internet at www.BarbaraArnwine.com.
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Past Show – April 25, 2017
April 25, 2017
