February 12, 2018 4:50 pm

Trump and DeVos love ‘Education Savings Accounts.’ You should know how they really work.

Published by

Answer Sheet

By Valerie Strauss

By Carol Burris

The Trump administration’s 2019 budget proposal for the U.S. Education Department was just released, and it shows the continuing support that President Trump and Secretary Betsy DeVos have for expanding school choice, or alternatives to traditional public education.

For the second year in a row, the administration has proposed slashing the department’s budget while spending more than $1 billion on vouchers — which use public money for private and religious schools — and other choice programs. Congress may not approve the request, but it shows Trump’s and DeVos’s priorities.Charter schools and vouchers are well-known choice alternatives, but there are others that are less familiar, including what’s called “Education Savings Accounts,” or ESAs. They may become more popular in states as the billionaire Koch brothers and their network plan to spend millions of dollars to push them and other efforts to privatize public education.
To read Carol’s entire piece, click here.