US education leaders concerned Trump could retract tech funding
US education leaders are concerned that President-elect Trump could stop funding and support for edtech in schools, including the federal E-Rate programme that improves schools with internet connections. Even the US Department of Education could be shut down, according to Doug Levin, president of consulting firm Ed Tech Strategies. In the absence of any appointments or policy direction, EducationDIVE urged educators to be vocal during the transitional period and lobby at both federal and, especially, the state level for certain policies. 

Dive Brief:

How President-elect Donald Trump will approach education policy is largely unknown, but The Hechinger Report writes that education leaders worry his administration could pull funding and support for ed tech use in schools.

Doug Levin, president of consulting firm Ed Tech Strategies, took to Twitter to rattle off the potential losses in the event Trump eliminates the U.S. Department of Education or some of Obama’s key initiatives, including a federal affiliation with Connected Ed, Future Ready, Go Open and supportive toolkits.

The federal E-Rate program provided additional money in recent years to improve internet connections in schools but that could dry up under the next president, and the Consortium for School Networking is encouraging educators to have their voices heard during the leadership transition.

Dive Insight:

Very little is actually known about what Trump will do in office. On the campaign trail he was either vague or exaggerating, and he has already said that some of his most extreme campaign lines will not be a priority during his presidency. Educators should not sit back and wait, however. Schools can model civic engagement for their students by lobbying for certain policies at the federal and state level.

In fact, the state level may be even more important in the coming months. States are developing plans for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act that need to be sent to the Department of Education by this summer. They are deciding how they will structure their report cards and accountability systems and developing new definitions for terms that will be standardized statewide instead of being decided by districts. It is an important time to be involved.