Senator's Bill Would Punish DeVos for Screwing Over Low-Income Students

[babylonsister]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/18/senators-bill-would-punish-devos-screwing-over-low-income-students

Senator's Bill Would Punish DeVos for Screwing Over Low-Income Students

'Secretary DeVos needs to understand that her decisions to deny students opportunities will have serious consequences'
by Deirdre Fulton, staff writer


Outraged that a formatting mistake may cost disadvantaged Montana students their chance to earn a college degree, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) has come up with a creative way to force Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reconsider: Hold her salary hostage.

Last month, the U.S. Education Department (DOE) rejected dozens of grant applications to the federal Upward Bound program over minor formatting problems. The University of Montana (UM), which had requested $1.7 million—$340,000 a year from 2017 to 2022—was among them.

The Missoulian reported that UM's application was rejected because "the budget page of its application wasn't double-spaced as required, according to Upward Bound director Twila Old Coyote. She said the budget page was the only one out of 65 pages that wasn't double-spaced."

Upward Bound, according to the DOE website, serves high school students from low-income families and those from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree, providing "opportunities for participants to succeed in their pre-college performance and ultimately in their higher education pursuits."

The program "has been incredibly successful in pulling folks out of poverty and empowering them to live successful lives with higher incomes," Tester wrote in an email to supporters in April. "Shuttering Upward Bound would be a serious disservice to the students and families who rely on it. Why would Washington pull the rug out on these kids over double-spacing?"

Following the rejections, Tester and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine (where the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s application was likewise denied) subsequently got 23 senators to sign onto a letter asking DeVos to reconsider the applications; the government funding bill approved in early May also included a provision that requires the department to reconsider applications. Collins and Tester even wrote to the secretary again this week. But DeVos appears to be "ignoring" these pleas, Tester said in a statement.

And so, Tester introduced a bill (pdf) on Tuesday "to rescind $500,000 a week from the Office of the Secretary of Education until the Secretary of Education reconsiders Upward Bound applications that were rejected due to arbitrary formatting issues." Those funds "specifically pay for the salaries and expenses of DeVos and her senior staff," Tester clarified.

"Secretary DeVos needs to understand that her decisions to deny students opportunities will have serious consequences," the senator declared. "Upward Bound has five decades of success at the University of Montana and helps the families who need it the most. Because Secretary DeVos has continued to ignore Montanans and undermine their dream of earning a college degree, this bill is needed to hold her accountable and ensure students have every shot at success."

[sharedvalues]

1. This is what we need. Jon Tester is a good man

[FakeNoose]

2. Betsy DeVos is independently wealthy

Chances are she doesn't even bother to cash the paltry paychecks she gets from the US government. They're so small compared to her trust fund.

But yeah this would be a good idea otherwise. I believe in holding people accountable who don't seem to have any inner morals or conscience for themselves.

Another (perhaps better) way to handle this is would be to fire her.

Just saying'

[Ilsa]

6. I bet there are people on staff in DoEd that need their

Paychecks though. Maybe they could coonvince her that nothing will get done if they are busy having to gather funds to avoid eviction.

[Bleacher Creature]

8. That's probably a better solution, but you have to be careful.

It needs to be limited to the political people put in place by DeVos and Trump, and not the career people who are caught in the crossfire.

[MichMan]

12. Do we know who reviewed the applications ?

Whole thing seems patently ridiculous, but I haven't been able to determine who is to blame

Do we know if it was new appointees or career DOE staffers who reviewed the applications and turned them down? Was this a new policy or were any turned down for this reason before?

[MurrayDelph]

13. She may not NEED to cash those checks,

but trust me, she's cashing them.

After all, the people who would benefit from the tax cut masquerading as a health plan don't need that money,

but they will sure-as-Hell take it.

[madokie]

3. The face of tRump

she needs to go and now not later

[lindysalsagal]

4. Way to resist!!! Awesome!!!

[MichMan]

5. Issue has already been addressed

The issue has already been addressed by the DOE

http://www.chronicle.com/items/biz/pdf/Internal%20memo%20within%20DoE.pdf

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/article/NI/20170513/NEWS/170519937

[secondwind]

7. Seems like almost everything is a bump in the road with the Trump Administration... it's like

pulling teeth to get them to do things properly and fairly.. God, I HATE these people!

[ecstatic]

9. +1000. nt

[csziggy]

10. Maybe not

Amid the Upward Bound uproar, DeVos issued a memo late last month saying requests for grants from the federally funded Upward Bound program will no longer be rejected over “formatting” errors in the application. But congressional aides told The Associated Press that DeVos’ staff informed them last week that the applications turned down in March will not be revisited.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/article/NI/20170513/NEWS/170519937

While DeVos has changed the submitting guidelines, they do not seem to be retroactive according to this.

Earlier in the article: "The next round of applications won’t be held for another five years, and some of the affected schools and groups are worried their Upward Bound programs may have to shutter as a result."

So if the applications rejected simply for formatting errors are not allowed a new review, those programs may lose funding for FIVE YEARS.

[AgadorSparticus]

11. Good. While the paychecks would mean nothing to her, it could be donated to educational programs

Or provide scholarships to the low income kids.