As the new year begins, Donald Trump has been officially titled as President of the United States of America. With this, there will be several changes within the next four years for the country.
However, one change that could greatly impact students is Trump’s plan to eliminate the Department of Education (DOE) and how House Bill No. 1136 will also affect states.
While this plan would affect several Indianapolis Public School (IPS) buildings, it would not affect SHS entirely.
Even though Trump’s current plan is to get rid of the DOE entirely, his plans may change over time as it’s still being considered for acceptance.
Trump’s objective for public education as a whole is to restrict the teachings on racial, sexual and political ideas in school buildings to prevent students from disliking their country based on the type of interpretations that could be given.
This can also explain why he wants the states to take control of the education system. However, he has an outline of what he wants as a priority for the system.
“We will teach students to love their country, not to hate their country like they are taught right now … ,” Trump said in a campaign video called “Agenda47: President Trump’s Ten Principles For Great Schools Leading To Great Jobs.” “We will strive to give all students access to internships and work experiences that can set them on a path to their first job.”
Even though Trump has these plans that he wants to implement, Superintendent Patrick Spray believes that it’ll be difficult to eliminate the DOE because it handles several fundings like the Title I, Title II and Title III programs.
Title I helps support low-income families throughout the country. Title II helps teachers properly teach students with disabilities or English learners and other kinds of students. Lastly, Title III aims to help English learners improve their language skills.
“I think it’ll be difficult to eliminate (the DOE) completely, mainly because the Federal Department of Education handles a lot of funding that comes down to schools through … programs that fund a lot of our instructional programs,” Spray said.
House Bill no. 1136 states that if more than 50% of a district’s students don’t attend a school in that district, it will close and convert to a charter school.
In Indiana, the bill will cause several Indiana Public Schools (IPS) buildings to be shut down and converted to charter schools, which are tuition-free public schools open to any state residents. The schools are also free from many regulations that public schools must follow.
However, they are held to rigorous standards for their academics and finances.
Spray isn’t too worried about this, however, because Perry Township meets the requirements. Approximately 80% of students living in the district attend Perry Township schools, and roughly 20% go to private or charter schools.
“We’re pretty far away from (the percentage), and that bill has a long way, and I don’t think it’s going to go through as written,” Spray said. “So we’ll pay attention to it (and) we’ll give input, but … I think that’s going to change substantially through the legislative process.”
According to Spray, only 3,722 students live within the district and don’t attend Perry Township schools.
Therefore, Perry Township as a whole is safe from being converted to charter schools.
Even though the bill has threatened several public districts, Director of Secondary Education Brain Knight says that the Federal Government has little influence over local public schools since it doesn’t oversee daily academic standards.
“I think this move, for (Trump), is more of a campaign political symbol than it really is going to impact anything that has to do with our work,” Knight said.
