Process Fouls

Republicans are trying to change the rules of the game

When do the ends justify the means? Some people have been defending the recent contract cancellations at the U.S. Department of Education on the grounds that we could do better.

Mark Schneider, the former director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), has been the most vocal champion of this view. In the National Review he called the contract cancellations, “an opportunity for government and companies to reimagine and rebuild the education R&D infrastructure that America needs for the future.”

Ok, I can get behind that concept. But where’s the “rebuild” part? When, exactly, do we get to see the vision for “reimagining” education research?

I hate being the person who calls process fouls. I generally prefer to stick to the substance of issues, but the Trump Administration is making it hard to ignore their disregard of traditional norms.

Photo by Nathan Shively on Unsplash

Let me give you a concrete example. When the Trump Administration canceled millions of dollars worth of grants under the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) and Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant programs, I winced. These were not my favorite programs. I think they’re expensive and inefficient, and I told The 74’s Linda Jacobson that they “aren’t exactly screaming cost-effectiveness.” For example, the highest-scoring TQP applicant last year was a $5.8 million proposal from UC Monterey Bay. With that money, they were planning to prepare 94 teacher candidates in an 18-month residency program. That works out to almost $62,000 per candidate. That’s a lot! There are much cheaper, more targeted ways to fill shortage areas.

The Trump Administration decided they didn’t like these programs either. They specifically objected on grounds related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. So they canceled the grants.

But this is not how things are supposed to work. We are a nation of laws. The President doesn’t just get to decide which laws or programs he likes and which ones he doesn’t. After all, Congress created both of these programs years ago, and Congress appropriated $70 million to fund the TQP program and $90 million for SEED just last year. If the Trump Administration didn’t like these two programs, they should have worked with Congress to revise the authorizing language or to de-fund them going forward.

Frankly, I’m not sure there’s any long-term plan here other than a partisan crusade. But these are congressionally funded, competitive grants. Regardless of whether I or the President or anyone else likes them, the grant recipients won them fair and square.