AFT on Executive Order to Study Federal Overreach in Education

WASHINGTON—Statement by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten on President Trump’s executive order today to determine any federal overreach in education:

“This is a case of been there, done that. Maybe Education Secretary Betsy DeVos missed it when Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), quoting the Wall St. Journal, called the new federal education law ‘the largest devolution of federal power to the states in a quarter century.’

“Rather than another executive order, perhaps the president and DeVos need to read the bipartisan Every Student Succeeds Act, as well as laws covering the civil rights and privacy of students, and then listen to stakeholders, including educators and parents.

“The new ESSA law fixes many of the items Trump and DeVos say they want studied, including prohibiting the federal government from dictating specific standards, tests, teacher evaluations and school turnaround strategies. It also brings parents and teachers into state and local education decisions and ensures equity so that federal funds are directed to children with the most needs. What the new law doesn’t do is abandon the requirement for the federal government to protect the civil rights of our students, even if those rights run counter to what states and districts want to do.