BETSY DEVOS/EDUCATION/RELIGION/SUPREME COURT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a lifelong advocate of Christian education, moved on Wednesday [5-9-18] to loosen federal regulations on religious colleges and universities, after a Supreme Court decision that restricted states from denying some kinds of aid to religious institutions. The measure is part of a sweeping deregulatory agenda for the Education Department announced on Wednesday by the White House budget office, which outlined several rules and regulations for the department to scrap or amend. Among those are rules that restrict faith-based entities from receiving federally administered funding…Education Department officials appear to be targeting regulations that would pose a legal risk after the Supreme Court ruled in June that states must sometimes provide aid to faith-based organizations. In the decision, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer, the court ruled that Missouri had engaged in unconstitutional religious discrimination when it denied a church-run preschool publicly funded tire scraps for its playground.”
-Erica L. Green, “DeVos Moves to Loosen Restrictions on Federal Aid to Religious Colleges,” The New York Times online, May 9, 2018