Ranking House Education Democrat Meets For The First Time With DeVos

The ranking Democrat on the House education committee says he met with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos today to discuss education issues and feels "reaffirmed ... that we share a common goal."

"Secretary DeVos and I will not always agree on the best ways to achieve that goal," Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia said in a statement. "But I am confident there are areas, like expanding access to quality career and technical education including apprenticeships, where we can work together."

Scott's office said it was his first meeting with DeVos and they discussed education priorities for House Democrats.

He urged DeVos to maintain Obama-era guidance on school discipline, which is under review as part of Trump's broader regulatory overhaul.

Federal education officials in recent months have met with both proponents and critics of that 2014 guidance, which sought to ensure that low-income students, minority students and students with disabilities aren't disciplined, suspended out-of-school or expelled more often than their white, more affluent peers.

“I am hopeful that another such area is dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline," Scott said in a statement. "This is why I strongly urged the Secretary to maintain the 2014 School Discipline Guidance Package. States and school districts need the tools and resources provided by this guidance package to ensure compliance with federal education and civil rights laws which require that they identify and address any racial bias in discipline policies and practices."

Scott said he also urged DeVos to support states as they use dollars under the Every Student Succeeds Act to address the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.

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