WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday questioned U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos during a U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies on the administration’s FY 2020 budget request for the Department of Education, which calls for $7.1 billion in cuts. Murphy pressed DeVos specifically on the status of the department’s attempt to delay implementation of an Obama-era rule that addresses the disproportionate placement of students of color in special education settings, even though a judge ruled that the department must implement the policy. Murphy also criticized the department’s proposal to eliminate Title IV funding under the Higher Education Act of 1965, which provides over a billion of dollars to improve school climate, fund mental health programs, and provide students with a well-rounded education.

“You attempted to push off a rule that would get us more information on how these vulnerable communities of students are being treated and the courts actually intervened and said that you could not delay that rule... And so, I just was hoping that you could give us confirmation that you are indeed requiring states to comply with the significant disproportionality rule in accordance with the court order.”

Murphy added, after DeVos confirmed the department is not following through with the court order, “I think it’s worth the committee's attention to this. There is a court order telling the administration that they must implement this rule and there’s no reason for additional review worthwhile following up on.” 

Murphy also pressed DeVos on the department’s budget request, which guts Title IV funding, “Suicide rates amongst children ages 10 to 17 has increased 70% between 2006 and 2016. It has obviously been in the news tragically over the past several weeks and Title IV provides over $1 billion for a variety of activities to improve school climates and to address trauma in schools. It funds suicide prevention programs throughout the country… I want to ask you what the rationale could be for cutting the federal funding that helps schools build these suicide prevention programs... When we have a national epidemic that we have to get our head and hands wrapped around.”

Full transcript of Murphy’s exchange with DeVos is below:

MURPHY: I do appreciate the way that this committee and this subcommittee has worked together in the past to reject these very hurtful cuts that have been proposed by the administration, and I agree that we will likely come to a bipartisan consensus on how to at least hold the line on education spending. But I just will say to my committee members that it is a little hard to stomach a lecture from this administration on the danger of deficits. In February of this year we had a $234 billion deficit which is a record for this country. Never before have we had that big a deficit in any one month, and that is the result of a tax cut that was passed. 80 percent of the benefit going to the richest 1% of Americans which now commands us to cut money from schools and that’s the choice we’re being asked to make. We need to tighten our belts when it comes to funding for kids because we have chosen to give a massive tax cut mainly to folks in this country who don’t really need it. And so I just think it’s important to lay the foundation for why we’re being asked to pass along these big, big cuts to our kids. It’s to finance a tax cut that by and large, when it’s fully implemented, will not help those kids in those lower performing or middle class schools. Towards that end Secretary DeVos, I wanted to ask you about the effect of your proposal to completely eliminate Title IV and I say that in the context of a conversation that we are having in this country right now about suicides. Suicide rates amongst children ages 10 to 17 has increased 70% between 2006 and 2016. It has obviously been in the news tragically over the past several weeks and Title IV provides over $1 billion for a variety of activities to improve school climates and to address trauma in schools. It funds suicide prevention programs throughout the country. And so, I want to ask you what the rationale could be for cutting the federal funding that helps schools build these suicide prevention programs. They’re just not going to be replaced magically by private dollars. When we have a national epidemic that we have to get our head and hands wrapped around.

DEVOS: Senator, thanks for that question. The budget proposal, does include Title IV fund elimination because we believe that that particular fund has been very thinly spread. It hasn’t been specifically used for just school safety activities. Our budget does propose collectively administration wide $700 million specifically for issues or for programs related to school safety and the Department of Ed’s budget includes $200 million, $100 million of which is designated for mental health and health and social, emotional wellbeing of students specifically. Specifically targeted to really getting at school climate and helping schools to better deal with these issues, these heartbreaking issues at the school level. 

MURPHY: It comes nowhere close to making up for the cuts in this bill and a lot of that money is spread out over a whole bunch of different kinds of programming other than the mental health and suicide prevention funds that are used by schools in Title IV. I wanted to turn to one more issue and that is the issue of what has become known as the significant disproportionality rule. You and I, I thought, had a very good conversation before your hearings about the concern that disabled students and students of color are disproportionately labeled “special education” and also disproportionately subject to overly harsh discipline. You attempted to push off a rule that would get us more information on how these vulnerable communities of students are being treated and the courts actually intervened and said that you could not delay that rule commanding states to give us data on how those communities of color and disabled communities are being treated requiring you to implement that rule. And so, I just was hoping that you could give us confirmation that you are indeed requiring states to comply with the significant disproportionality rule in accordance with the court order.

DEVOS: Well Senator, thanks for that question and let me just reiterate that every student should receive the services that they need. I’m concerned about both over and under identification of students in need of special education services. So, we are committed to treating students as individuals and not more broadly as statistics. The department is reviewing the court’s decision and discussing our options, and we will certainly move forward from there.

MURPHY: But the court’s decision is that you cannot delay the rule, that you have to implement it. So what is there to review about it?

DEVOS: Well it’s a lengthy decision and we are still in the process of reviewing it.

MURPHY: So you are not implementing the rule as of today? You are not requiring states to provide that data?

DEVOS: We are reviewing our options.

MURPHY: I think it’s worth the committee's attention to this. There is a court order telling the administration that they must implement this rule and there’s no reason for additional review worthwhile following up on. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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