“He’s been all over the map on a number of these questions,” said Hess, the director of education policy studies for the American Enterprise Institute, during a panel discussion Wednesday at the Shanker Institute, an education nonprofit.
Hess is among education experts and policymakers who, since the election, have been trying to figure out what a Trump administration might do for education — starting with whether there will even be a federal Department of Education. Trump suggested during the campaign that the agency might be on the chopping block, though the statement seemed more like a sound bite than a policy pronouncement.
On the campaign trail, Trump's statements on education were largely like that — a series of short clips, some seemingly contradictory. Nor is it clear whether Trump's policy will hew closely to the Republican agenda or fall more in line with his populist streak.
Trump's office has not responded to requests for interviews on his education priorities, but he and people close to him have dropped a few clues. Here is an overview of what America's schools and universities might expect during the Trump administration:
K to 12 Education
School choice: In a speech at a Cleveland charter school in September, Trump rolled out the banner element in his education plan — the $20 billion program to promote "school choice." Along with the federal money, states also would be encouraged to kick dollars into a pool so that low-income children could select their schools, including private and charter schools.
U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind., who founded the Congressional School Choice Caucus and is friends with Pence, suggested in an interview that some of the money for Trump's school choice program could come from Title 1, a $15 billion education program for low-income schools. But critics say letting Title 1 money follow students to higher-income schools outside their neighborhoods — referred to in education speak as Title 1 portability — would take money away from public schools.
Teachers unions have opposed the idea of expanding funding for charter schools. “There is a real question about resources being drained from public education,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Common core: In an interview with Fox News in October of 2015, Trump said: "I may cut Department of Education. I believe Common Core is a very bad thing." The statement, though, may have reflected a bit of a misunderstanding.
Common Core standards, an initiative to standardize educational requirements throughout the nation, were adopted by states. Under a recently enacted law, the federal government is prohibited from telling states what educational standards to adopt. So the Department of Education has no authority over Common Core anyway.
Transgender restrooms: The Obama administration has taken the position that schools must permit transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice. The Republican platform calls that policy illegal and dangerous.
But in a television interview in April, Trump said transgender people should go to any restroom they want. Caitlyn Jenner took him up on the invitation.
Higher Education
Student debt: In a speech in Columbus, Ohio, last month, Trump called college debt an "albatross" around people's necks, and suggested a way out. Students would pay 12.5 percent of their income each year for 15 years. After that, their loans could be forgiven.
But there is already a similar program — currently requiring payment of 10 percent of income over 20 years. Jason D. Delisle, also of the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, said Trump's repayment plan would cost the government more and would give a huge break to students with higher student debt, usually those with advanced degrees.
There has been some thought that Trump plans to turn student lending over to private banks and take the government out of the equation. But there is no evidence Trumphas endorsed that idea.
Campus sexual assault: Trump has said there is "tremendous bloat" in college costs, blaming that partly on highly paid administrators. He has also suggested cutting expensive regulations, though he has not said which ones. One target, though, may be regulations concerning campus sexual assault complaints under Title IX, the federal law that governs gender equity in education.
The Obama administration has stepped up enforcement of Title IX on campuses, sending universities across the country scrambling to comply and to hire staff members to do so. Some experts believe that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights, which administers those rules, may face cuts.
"Many of the people who Trump will be talking to believe that the Office for Civil Rights has been overreaching, it's been too aggressive and it's time to pull back," said Deborah Tuerkheimer, a former New York sex crimes prosecutor who currently teaches law at Northwestern University.
Endowments: Trump has said that universities should spend more of their endowments on students rather than investing the money. He suggested that some colleges pay more to financial advisers to manage their endowments than they spend on tuition assistance. University endowments currently hold more than $500 billion.
In recent years, various lawmakers have proposed cutting tax breaks to universities unless they spend more of their endowments. But most of the colleges with large endowments — like Harvard, Yale and Stanford — already give needy students generous aid. And there are only about two dozen universities with endowments of $1 billion or more, so forcing universities to spend their endowment money would probably have little national effect.
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