Trump orders DeVos to get rid of 'overreaching mandates' in schools

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday ordered U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to study how the federal government has supported “top-down mandates” that rob autonomy from state and local education authorities, taking aim at Obama-era regulations that Republicans have long sought to eliminate.

In an executive order, Trump granted DeVos authority to get rid of K-12 education regulations that don’t comport with federal law. A top U.S. Education Department official admitted, however, that DeVos already has this authority.

“This executive order makes certain that local leaders will be making the decisions about what happens in the classroom,” top DeVos advisor Rob Goad told reporters. “Parents will no longer have to worry about the federal government enacting overreaching mandates or requiring states to adopt a federal curriculum at the expense of local education innovation,” an apparent reference to widely adopted "Common Core" standards, which conservatives have long criticized.

Trump, like many Republicans, has vowed to shrink the Education Department’s role in how schools and colleges operate. The new order gives DeVos about 10 months to review regulations and guidance. The review will be led by a task force headed by Robert Eitel, a senior counselor to DeVos, Goad said.

Republicans have long complained that the federal government overreaches in regulating schools — a complaint that they said was especially relevant during the eight years of President Obama’s administration. Almost from the beginning, Obama held out billions of dollars in federal stimulus cash that came with requirements that states adopt new “college- and career-ready” academic standards, among other measures. In response, most states adopted Common Core standards.

But Obama also loosened regulations late in his second term. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which he signed in 2015, reduced the federal role in K-12 education, handing control of many aspects of schooling back to states and school districts. Observers have noted, with irony, that the ESSA law, in limiting federal authority, actually prohibits Trump from abolishing Common Core, a key campaign pledge.

The standards remain in place in about 35 states and the District of Columbia.

Conservatives have also complained that Obama’s Education Department pushed too hard on civil rights for transgender and minority students, among others, and forced colleges to rethink how they handle campus sexual assault.

“Since our founding, education was intended to be under state and local control,” Goad said. “In recent years, however, too many in Washington have advanced top-down mandates that take away autonomy and limit the options available to educators, administrators, and parents.”

Goad said Wednesday’s executive order “puts an end to this overreach,” giving DeVos the power “to modify anything that is inconsistent with federal law,” though he admitted that she is already empowered to do that.

Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo