by Josh Averbach ‘18

As president-elect, some of Donald Trump’s most attention-grabbing ideas have included his hardline immigration and trade policies. What have gathered less attention, however, are his education policies. Indeed, Trump could change American education in several significant ways. It should be noted that any predictions about Trump’s policy will be highly speculative, given the often vague nature of Trump’s campaign rhetoric.

Throughout his campaign, Trump frequently noted his sup- port for “school choice.” This refers to giving students, particularly in poor inner-city areas, choices between a variety of edu- cational options. This could mean an uptick in charter schools (publicly funded but privately operated schools), magnet programs, and school vouchers (publically issued scholarships for students to attend private schools). In fact, Trump has proposed to allocate $20 billion of federal funding towards this initiative. Trump confirmed his administration’s  for school choice by appointing Betsy DeVos, an outspoken supporter of school choice, as education secretary.

Many high school students soon to attend college and college graduates and themselves asking how a Trump presidency will affect college tuition and student loans. The president-elect has put forth a few concrete policy proposals, some of which do not con- form to his party’s typical conservative values. In October, Trump unveiled an income-based repayment system. Under this system, a graduate could not be forced to pay more than 12.5 percent of

their income per month to repay student debt. According to USA Today, for instance, a graduate with a monthly income of $2,000 would pay a maximum of $250 a month. Trump has also proposed to forgive all student debt after 15 years. This debt forgiveness plan, in particular, may draw criticism from conservatives, who tend to denounce this type of government issued financial assistance.

Under President Obama, the Department of Education took a number of steps to combat sex- ual assault on college campuses. Proponents of these actions label them as beneficial to victims, while critics argue that they have eroded the rights of the accused. Trump has spoken relatively little about this issue. However, it can be inferred that he would set policies based on ideas from the Re- publican Party’s platform, which criticizes schools for investigating reports of sexual assault, and calls for these accusations to be dealt with in court rather than extra judicially.

While Trump has some pow- er in creating America’s education policies, the president has little say in what actually gets taught in the classroom. Trump has stated his intentions of eliminating Common Core, a set of educational standards that 42 states, including Maryland, have adopted. DeVos is also a vocal critic of Common Core. Despite this rhetoric, it is unlikely that the new president will have the power to undo this, because these standards were agreed upon by states, and made a law by the Federal Government. Trump also states that he would like to inject patriotism into public education by emphasizing American exceptionalism.