States remain cool to DeVos' suggestion to tout school choice policies

Dive Brief:

Of the 10 states that have submitted school accountability plans to the U.S. Department of Education this year, few seem to be following the suggestion of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos that the plans should incorporate language and details on policies that could expand school choice, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
The plans are part of the initiation of the Every Student Succeeds Act and will measure how states judge the efficacy of their schools, and the Education Department will review the plans after submission and determine whether they are satisfactory.
It is not mandatory for school choice expansion programs to be included in the accountability plans, but in remarks at a Brookings University event last month, DeVos left open the possibility that the Education Department would consider rejecting state’s accountability plans if choices for parents were not emphasized.

Dive Insight:

DeVos’ strong support for school choice is well-known and oft-criticized, and critics and advocates alike have been curious to see what steps she would take instilling her advocacy history into federal education policy. The student accountability plans may be her first opportunity to wield such influence, but only three of the already submitted plans included language about addressing issues of school choice, with none committing to any new policies.

The fact that states are refusing to emphasize school choice initiatives in their accountability plans is interesting, given DeVos’ steadfast support and the fact that the ESSA is in many respects an expansion of local school control. States may be wary of committing to school choice programs in light of the relative lack of public comments on the issue from President Donald Trump. Though he floated programs in favor of school choice on the campaign trail, Trump has not spoken about school choice (or education, generally) with much detail in his tenure thus far. States may still be unsure how much autonomy DeVos will have to sculpt the Education Department in her desired image.