U.S. Department of Education: Comparison of the Trump and Obama Eras

In Article Ⅱ,
Section 2 of the Constitution the cabinet is established. The cabinet is made
up of the Vice President and the secretaries of 15 executive branch
departments. It helps the president in carrying out his education policies and
enforcing laws put in place by Congress. The Department of Education is a vital
part of our society. Without it, our
future leaders would not be educated or educated poorly. One of the main
purposes is to, “strengthen the Federal commitment to ensuring access to equal
educational opportunity for every individual.” The Department of Education was
formed on May 4, 1980, in the Department of Education Organization Act; Section
102, Public Law 96-88. The department’s mission is to promote student
achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational
excellence and ensuring equal access. The Department of Education is the
smallest cabinet-level department. This
year the president requested $9 billion or a 13 percent reduction from the 2017
budget. This would help the taxpayers, but it may affect the way the department
uses the money. But the department has requested more grant money this year as
opposed to last year. For example, in the Title Ⅰ Grants Local Educational
Agencies They requested $15,881,500,000 as opposed
to last years $14,881,500,000.

Betsy DeVos is the current
secretary of the department of education. She has been the secretary since
February 7, 2017, she won the vote with a 51-50 margin. This was the first time
in U.S. history that a Cabinet nominees confirmation required a vice president’s
[Mike Pence] historic tiebreaking vote to secure a cabinet post. DeVos has
since proved her worth by revising President Barack Obama-era guidelines for
student-loan debt relief and rules governing sexual assault cases on college
campuses. Elisabeth Dee Prince was born in Holland, Michigan on January 8,
1958. Her parents Edgar and Elsa Prince were both very successful. Her mother
was a public-school teacher at a local school near her childhood home. DeVos’s
father was a wealthy businessman and that helped push her into the political
spotlight. His wealth and influence of their local community helped her get
into the eye of the people. Her mother was a big part in getting DeVos
interested in education and its aspects. Her
parents are also avid donors to very conservative groups such as anti-LGBTQ+
groups and that made her a bad guy with liberals. This also wasn’t helpful
while she was running because she as well donated to these groups. Even though Betsy
DeVos didn’t attend public school; all the DeVos children attend a private
school. This sparked controversy for DeVos when running for department
secretary; with no public-school education or any background in education, it was hard for some people to
understand why or how she was fit for the position. This made pleasing people
when she got into office much greater of a deal because of the number of people waiting for her to screw up
then blame it on her lack of background. This would just give motivation to the
newly elected secretary; as she went on to prove most people wrong by working to
improve some of the biggest Obama-era controversies. Even though people doubted
her because of her lack of experience in the educational community; Trump was
able to look past all of that and see an advocate for what is right. She has
been focusing on sexual assault case on
college campuses. In fact, on August 29,
2018, DeVos proposed a new policy on campus sexual misconduct that would enhance
the rights of students accused of assault, harassment or rape, reduce
accountability for institutions of higher education and encourage schools to
provide more backing for victims. This would make the “definition” of sexual
harassment much smaller and only involving school when it has occurred on their
campus. This law may only seem to apply
to colleges, but it would also apply to elementary, middle and, high schools.
The law also would protect teachers, administrators, and other school
employees. This would make for a smoother legal process for not only the victim
but also the school if it must get involved and quite possibly make the entire
process more discrete which would benefit the current and future reputation of
both the school and victim without sparing the rightful justice that would be
applied to the accused.

While DeVos may be our
current secretary during the Obama-era we had Arne Duncan. He became secretary
on January 20, 2009 when he was confirmed into office by the U.S. Senate
following his nomination by [at the time] President Barack Obama. Before
becoming secretary of education, Duncan served as the chief executive officer
of the Chicago Public Schools; a position he held from June 2001 through
December 2008. His parents, Starkey and Susan Duncan, helped him achieve
whatever Duncan wanted to do. For nearly 50 years Susan Duncan has run an
after-school tutoring project out of church basements on the South Side of
Chicago. Her work has helped kids from Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods, and
inspired Arne to pursue a career in education. She continues to show up
four days a week to help students. His father also helped his interest in
education blossom being that he was a psychology professor. He attended the
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. In 1987, he graduated from the
Harvard University as a ‘magna cum laude’ with a degree in sociology. One of
Arne’s main accomplishments was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s
$100 billion that funded 325,000 teaching jobs. Arne Duncan was huge advocate
for gun control in schools; he even went as fat as to tweet, “This is
brilliant, and tragically necessary. What if no children went to school until
gun laws changed to keep them safe? My family is all in if we can do this at
scale. Parents, will you please join us?” He tweeted this after a shooting in
Santa Fe, TX which left 10 students and many more injured. While this is a
little extreme, he was putting his thoughts out for people to see. After he
left office, he went on to work as a managing partner at the Emerson
Collective, where he works to promote gun safety. In December of 2015 he helped
pass the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” a replacement to the Bush-era
“No Child Left Behind” law. This law was one that he said he
would replace; when he was first elected which is something Duncan did his
entire time in office. He was able to repeal, replace, or enact almost every
law he said he would, fulfilling his promise to the people. Duncan also persuaded 42 states to implement education goals based on the
Common Core, and 21 of those states use tests that directly correlate with
those standards, which were created to make schools more challenging and the
curriculum more similar from state-to-state. Like his successor Duncan also was
a strong supporter of charter schools, helping cities such as Washington, DC
and New Orleans, LA adopt them. Duncan also supported community colleges;
working with Obama to help them become free and universal. Throughout his
entire time in office he had Obama backing him; “Arne has dedicated his life to
the cause of education — and sometimes in the nicest possible way, he has
gotten on people’s nerves because he has pushed them and prodded them,” the
president said at the signing of Every Student Succeeds Act. Arne helped to
secure congressional support for President Obama’s investments in education,
including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s $100 billion to fund
325,000 teaching jobs. He has helped secure an additional $10 billion to avoid
teacher layoffs. Duncan has helped secure increases in the Pell grant program
to increase the number of young Americans attending college and receiving
postsecondary degrees.

            The
Department has been around since October 17, 1979. The U.S. Department of
Education is the agency of the federal government that establishes policy for,
administers and coordinates most federal assistance to education.  In 2007,
the Department’s elementary and secondary school programs served roughly 55
million students attending 100,000 public schools and 34,000 private schools.
Department programs also provided grant, loan and work-study assistance to
about 10 million undergraduate students. Although the Department is relatively
new, its origins goes back to 1867. President Andrew Johnson signed legislation
creating the first Department of Education. However, due to concern that the
Department would exercise too much control over local schools, the new
Department was demoted to an Office of Education in 1868. While its time as a
department was short lived it continued to give ideas on new teaching methods
and many more things. Over the years, the office remained moderately small, housed
in several agencies. Then in the 1950’s the need for education sparked when the
Soviet Union’s sputnik launch was successful. The need for scientific education
had never been more needed in history as we entered the space race. The 1960’s
called for finial funding for students in poverty not only in elementary but
also college. The 60’s merged into the 70’s when the need for programs that
would give racial minorities, women, disabled, and non-English speaking
children an equal education. In October 1979, Congress passed the Department of
Education Organization Act (Public Law 96-88). The Department finally began
operations in May 1980. The department started with a measly 4 employees and
$15,000 budget in 1860 to a whopping 2,100 employees and a 1.5-million-dollar
budget in 1965. The Department dispenses financial aid to qualified candidates
for all stages of education.

Bibliography

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• “Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education — Biography.” Home. December 31, 2015. Accessed November 28, 2018. https://www2.ed.gov/news/staff/bios/duncan.html.
• Bacon Jr., Perry. “How Arne Duncan Reshaped American Education and Made Enemies Along the Way.” www.nbcnews.com. January 2, 2016. Accessed December 2, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/how-arne-duncan-reshaped-american-education-made-enemies-along-way-n480506.  
• Brown, Catherine, and Ulrich Boser. “The DeVos Dynasty: A Family of Extremists.” Center for American Progress. January 23, 2017. Accessed November 29, 2018 .https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/default/news/2017/01/23/296947/the-devos-dynasty-a-family-of-extremists/.
• Collins, Gail. “The Bane That Is Betsy DeVos.” The New York Times. August 18, 2018. Accessed November 27, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/opinion/betsy-devos-for-profit-colleges.html.
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• “Home.” U.S. Department of Education Releases National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate | U.S. Department of Education. Accessed November 28, 2018. https://www.ed.gov/.
• Jackson, Abby. “Betsy DeVos Was Just Confirmed as Education Secretary – Here’s What She Will Control.” Business Insider. February 07, 2017. Accessed November 29, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-secretary-of-education-do-betsy-devos-2017-2.
• Ott, Tim. “Betsy DeVos.” Biography.com. August 23, 2018. Accessed November 27, 2018. https://www.biography.com/people/betsy-devos.
• Reilly, Katie. “Betsy DeVos: The Biggest Controversies From Her First Year.” Time. December 14, 2017. Accessed November 27, 2018. http://time.com/5053007/betsy-devos-education-secretary-2017-controversies/.
• “The U.S. Department of Education.” U.S. Department of State. July 26, 2018. Accessed November 28, 2018. https://educationusa.state.gov/us-higher-education-professionals/us-government-resources-and-guidance/us-department-education.
• “U.S. Department of Education.” E | A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies | USAGov. Accessed November 28, 2018. https://www.usa.gov/federal-agencies/u-s-department-of-education.