Recent history reflects Republican governors leading the way on a number of school-choice options (yours truly even sponsored and signed dark-blue Maryland’s first public charter school bill in 2003), but most GOPers still view education as both a local and backburner issue. So, why include it on the party’s national agenda?
Here is the familiar refrain from the GOP bleachers: “Get rid of the Department of Education.” It is a chant (and position) that initially gained notoriety during my first term in Congress in 1994 and shows no signs of losing momentum during Trump 2.0.
But not so fast. Federal courts have guaranteed American kids a constitutional right to a free and adequate education, not to mention the rights vested by IDEA (children with disabilities) and under Title I (poor children).
Then, of course, there is that federal school loan mess that President Joe Biden has made even more messy (and incoherent) by his relentless executive orders issued in a transparent effort to buy young voters through a variety of loan forgiveness initiatives.
All of which leaves many right-wingers scratching their heads, wondering what can be done to fix a system that continues to fail especially poor students, who are sentenced to multi-generational dysfunctional schools (and the taxpayers who fund those schools), but remains primarily an issue of local funding and control.
Alas, the answers are not only clear but doable under a Republican administration that is committed to fix what is so clearly broken.
To wit:
1-As he did during his first term, President Donald Trump can bring back Title IX due process protections (that were deleted by a newly sworn in President Joe Biden) as applied to campus sex-abuse proceedings, thereby ensuring fair and balanced treatment for both accused and accuser in these often-emotional tribunals.
2-Withdraw Biden’s attempt to expand the definition of protected classes to include gender identity under federal civil rights law. This withdrawal will constitute a return to common sense and ensure that only biological females are able to compete against other biological females in collegiate athletic contests, thereby renewing the promise of Title IX and the future of authentically female athletics.
3-Utilize the department (and congressional oversight) to expose the growth of virulent antisemitism on the campuses of numerous American colleges and universities.
4-Utilize the department (and congressional oversight) to expose the growth of speech limiting academic constructs such as speech codes – language guides – and safe spaces on the campuses of (most) American colleges and universities – and identify those responsible.
5-Expose and terminate the Biden Justice Department’s indefensible investigations into protesting parents at local PTA meetings.
6-Withhold federal funds in order to ensure school compliance with student safety and free-speech rights, including, to be sure, proscription of threatening speech against religious and racial groups, such as Jewish, Christian and African American students.
7-Assist state governments with whatever iteration of school-choice options their legislatures wish to utilize for the education of their K-12 population.
8-Strengthen and reform the broken federal student-loan program with private sector options – and federal guarantees – and provide transparent reporting on expected income levels as a function of academic major.
9-Protect the religious freedom of religiously controlled and affiliated institutions (under Title IX) from federal interference that conflicts with specific tenets of religious practice and belief.
So, there you have it: a renewed focus on due process and speech and school choice and female athletes and parent/local control. These area sustainable and achievable planks for a Middle America desperate for a return to common sense.
Bob Ehrlich is a former Governor of Maryland, Member of Congress and State Legislator. He is the author of five books on American politics and opinion pieces that have appeared in America’s leading newspapers and periodicals. He and his wife, Kendel, can be seen and heard on their weekly podcast, “Bottom Line with Bob & Kendel Ehrlich.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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