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Watch John King Talk Vouchers, Trump Budget in Facebook Live Interview

By Andrew Ujifusa — March 22, 2017 1 min read
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What’s the current direction of federal education policy? We went to the most-recent former leader of federal education policy to get his opinion.

On Wednesday, Education Week correspondent Kavitha Cardoza sat down with former U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. to talk about school choice, President Donald Trump’s proposed education budget, what’s needed to improve public education, and other matters.

In the Facebook Live discussion, King sharply criticized the budget blueprint’s proposed elimination of federal support for nationwide after-school and teacher-training programs, as well as reductions in programs designed to aid college students from low-income backgrounds.

“This budget is really an assault on the American Dream,” King said, adding that in his opinion there’s “good choice” and “bad choice” in terms of educational options.

The Trump administration and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have said they want a change in philosophy in Washington in order to give states and districts more control of education policy.

And in contrast to DeVos, King said he was “very skeptical” about the efficacy of vouchers, and that they don’t really contribute to work that’s needed to improve public schools.

Watch the full video below: