President Donald J. Trump delivered his first State of the Union address since taking office, calling the current era “our new American moment.” But he missed an opportunity for substantive conversation on the growing concerns around education in the country, some in higher education observed.
While Trump’s Tuesday night address touched on Congress’ progress on tax reform, the economy, national defense and the president’s four-pillar policy proposal on immigration, higher education scholars and policy experts noted that there was little mention of K-12 and higher education policy beyond an appeal for an investment in workforce development through the opening of vocational schools.
“The biggest surprise last night was that there was no mention at all of school choice and charter schools, which is kind of the favorite topic of the president and of the [U.S. Education] Secretary and really of the Republican Party, more generally,” said Dr. Jon Valant, a fellow in the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution.
However, the mention of vocational education in the president’s address was “significant,” Valant said, as Congress is working to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act. The House passed a bipartisan bill last year that floundered in the Senate. However, Valant said, “lately there have been signs that both parties have been willing to do something.”
Following the address, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos affirmed the president’s call for more emphasis on vocational education and workforce training.
“America must do better to prepare our students for success in the 21st-century economy,” DeVos said in a press statement. “I join the president in calling on Congress to act in the best interest of students and expand access to more education pathways.”
Some education leaders said they would have liked for the president to have delved into issues of college affordability and access, accountability and protections for student borrowers and ways to increase college completion.
