Trump’s school cuts, voucher plan unlikely to pass

President Trump’s proposal to cut federal education funding and expand vouchers faces roadblocks in Washington, D.C. And that’s a good thing, given the financial problems public schools are facing.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., told members of the Kansas State Board of Education last week that Trump’s proposal to cut federal education spending by $9.2 billion lacked support in Congress, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

“I think the dramatic reductions in spending would not be supported by enough senators to pass,” he said.

Moran also said Trump’s plan to spend $1.5 billion more on vouchers and charter schools would face resistance.

“You can’t take money and put it into vouchers without Congress allowing that,” Moran said.

Moran said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told him there would be no federally mandated school vouchers for Kansas.

“Her commitment to me was that there would be no federally required vouchers,” he said. “We would be an active opponent to any kind of increase in the federal government telling us how to run our schools here in Kansas.”

Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson said the state would be “disproportionally hurt” by Trump’s proposals.

“Charters and vouchers have a difficult time in our Kansas Constitution and rural state,” he said, so Kansas wouldn’t receive much of that new money.

But Kansas would be harmed by the proposed funding cut, which would reduce funding for teacher quality initiatives.

“We’re not asking for more (money) but we can protect what we have,” Watson told Moran. “We’re asking for what is supposed to be coming to Kansas.”

That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

This story was originally published April 28, 2017 at 5:04 AM with the headline "Trump’s school cuts, voucher plan unlikely to pass."