Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defended cuts to the Special Olympics Tuesday while justifying her department’s proposed 2020 budget, saying her department has “had to make some difficult decisions.”
Ms. DeVos’ remark was a response to Rep. Mark Pocan asking whether the education secretary knew how many kids would be affected by the loss of almost $18 million dollars worth of Special Olympics funding.
“I don’t know the number of kids,” Ms. DeVos started before the Wisconsin Democrat interjected, telling her it would be “272,000 kids” seeing their support taken away.
“I think Special Olympics is an awesome organization, one that is well supported by the philanthropic sector as well,” the education secretary continued.
In @BetsyDeVosED’s budget, there are major cuts to programs like the Special Olympics. Sec. DeVos didn’t know the number of kids who would be hurt by that cut, so I made sure she now knows that 272,000 kids are seeing their support taken away. pic.twitter.com/6ZiOfDU4Ou
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 26, 2019
Ms. DeVos’ donated a portion of her salary to the Special Olympics in 2018, Politico reported.
Mr. Pocan also said President Trump’s proposed budget would cut millions of dollars for special education grants and schools, which Ms. DeVos answered they have kept special education funding at a “level amount” comparatively.
Rep. David Cicilline criticized the move, saying he was “sick that this administration wants to cut funding for the [Special Olympics].”
“I’m leading dozens of my colleagues in the fight to protect the funding that [Mr. Trump] and [Mr. DeVos] are trying to take away from kids [with] disabilities,” the Rhode Island Democrat tweeted, including a letter being sent to the executive branch describing the Special Olympics as removing “the stigma and discrimination faced by individuals with intellectual disabilities.”
Tuesday was the education secretary’s first time testifying before a majority Democratic house panel.
Ms. DeVos has been a long advocated for school choice, particularly charter schools, with the new budget including a charter school funding increase.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.