8/31/2018

BETSY DEVOS/EDUCATION/GUNS/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos signaled on Friday [8-31-18] that she does not plan to take action over the purchase of guns for schools using federal funds. In a letter to Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, DeVos wrote, ‘Let me be clear: I have no intention of taking any action concerning the purchase of firearms or firearms training for school staff under the ESEA,’ a reference to federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds. The letter, which was posted to a Twitter account for the Education Department’s press secretary, is dated Aug. 31. DeVos wrote that there is ”substantial flexibility’ in how school districts use these funds’ and that ‘Congress did not authorize me or the Department to make those decisions. As I have stated publicly on numerous occasions since I was nominated for this position, I will not legislate via fiat from the Department.’ Earlier this month, the Trump administration pushed back on a New York Times report that DeVos was looking into a plan that would allow states to use federal funding to buy firearms for teachers.”

Clare Foran, “DeVos: I won’t take action over schools buying guns with federal funds,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, August 31, 2018 10:31 pm