Following Donald Trump’s win, his running mate Mike Pence will assume his new role as vice president of the country in January. And, given his political track record, Pence is expected to handle the Trump administration’s education policies.
Before joining Trump’s campaign as his vice presidential nominee, he was looking to be re-elected as the governor of Indiana. After he was asked to be Trump’s running mate, he withdrew from his own race to join the Republican Party’s presidential ticket.
With Pence being elected as the next vice president of the country, many are expecting the former Indiana representative to bring his fight towards better education to the White House.
During his time as a member of the U.S. Congress, one of his most notable acts was voting against the No Child Left Behind policy, Chalkbeat reported. Like many Republicans who voted against this, Pence believed the policy gave the federal government more leeway to intrude on the provisions for the education sector.
Then, after transitioning to governor of Indiana, Pence supported the expansion of voucher programs and charter schools. He also successfully advocated the first state-funded preschool program.
In his new role as vice president, many education experts are assuming that Trump would appoint Pence to oversee the various policies related to education given his background in this sector. One of the aspects that he could focus on is the current K-12 program.
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he gives Pence a lot of leeway there, to kind of define that role,” research fellow Nat Malkus of the American Enterprise Institute said according to Ed Week. “I could really see him trying to minimize any role [of the federal government in education],”
“That would be my hope,” Director Neal McClusky of Cato Institute’s Center for Educational Freedom added. “He would probably drastically reduce what the federal government does in education.”
Great call. Very smart man.