WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said it is “distressing” to see the administration of President Donald J. Trump roll back policy initiatives put in place under President Barack Obama to protect college students from shady loan service providers and for-profit colleges with poor outcomes.
Speaking Monday during an interview in his new office at The Education Trust, a D.C.-headquartered nonprofit where he is now president, King told Diverse that the Trump administration’s efforts to pare down the Education Department and cut various federal education initiatives — such as professional development for teachers, summer and after-school programs, and student aid for college — are an “assault on the American dream.”
King served as education secretary during the tail end of the Obama administration.
“It’s an attack on education as a pathway to opportunity,” King said of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts, which include a proposed $9 billion cut to the Education Department — a 13 percent reduction — “cancelling” $3.9 billion in surplus Pell Grant funds. It also includes eliminating the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, which funds after-school programs, to save $1.2 billion, and reducing or eliminating the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant Program, among other things.
Since the Trump administration took over, King’s successor — Betsy DeVos — and President Trump have scrapped regulations that would have held educator preparation programs accountable, rescinded guidance that would done the same thing for loan service providers with poor track records and postponed enforcement of the gainful employment regulations meant to cut off federal aid from for-profit colleges with poor outcomes.
The administration has also appointed an affirmative action opponent to head the department’s Office of Civil Rights.
Asked which of those things worried him the most, King said it’s “all of the above.”
