U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos pays visit to Van Wert Schools

Van Wert Superintendent Ken Amstutz and Principal Bob Priest feel they were able to make a good impression on the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, and hope to have laid some groundwork to get her thinking differently about public education. The Bryan Times reports the issue at hand is a Trump administration proposed $9 billion in education cuts nationally, coupled with a $1.4 billion increase in funding for “school choice” initiatives. A Trump-proposed federally distributed, state-run block grant of $20 billion would help children in low-performing public schools to enroll at charter and private schools, which would likely drop enrollment at public schools nationwide, leading to further decreased funding for districts.