'Talk Is Cheap': Joe Courtney Grills Education Secretary Linda McMahon About Her Funding Priorities

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At a House Education & Workforce Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT) questioned Education Secretary Linda McMahon about her budget priorities.

Transcript

00:00I now recognize the gentleman from Connecticut, Mr. Courtney.

00:03Great, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:05Secretary McMay, in your opening remarks,

00:08you focused on the need for giving parents and families

00:13the choice in terms of their children's education.

00:17And sure enough, in your skinny budget,

00:20the line item for charter schools was plussed up,

00:26which I guess is consistent with those remarks.

00:28However, you zeroed out magnet schools in the skinny budget.

00:33We both come from Connecticut.

00:36U.S. News and World Report did their annual ranking

00:38of high schools in the state of Connecticut.

00:41The number one high school in the state of Connecticut

00:44is a magnet school in East Hartford,

00:45the Connecticut IB Academy.

00:47The number three high school in terms of quality

00:50in the state of Connecticut is the Marine Science Magnet School

00:53in Groton, Connecticut, which I have the honor of representing.

00:57There is not a charter school in the top 50, and again, this is not,

01:02my question is not really about whether charter schools perform

01:06or don't perform, but what your budget does is it undercuts parental choice

01:10because magnet schools are choice-driven programs.

01:14I can say that personally because my daughter attended a magnet school,

01:19and it was an excellent education experience.

01:23You zeroed out that account, which completely undercuts and contradicts the hype

01:29in your opening statement about supporting parental choice.

01:33I mean, why wouldn't you support magnet schools?

01:37Well, I do support magnet schools, and as we both know, in Connecticut,

01:42I'll speak to magnet schools, but also in Connecticut, there has been the lowest growth

01:47in charter schools, I think we're like fifth from the bottom, in the country

01:51for allowing more charter school growth.

01:52So why zero out magnets?

01:54Magnet schools are also, as are charter schools, they are public schools.

01:59So in the public schools funding, then I think that as the states have more control

02:05over their state budgets, they can allocate those dollars to magnet schools.

02:09I think magnet schools are great, and I know that a lot of them do focus

02:12on particular kinds of studies.

02:14Well, thank you.

02:14I'm just reclaiming my talk is cheap.

02:16Budgets are what count, and this budget does not say that magnet schools are great.

02:20I have another question I want to just move on.

02:22Well, you referenced the skinny budget, and that was an operating plan.

02:24We now have the full budget, so we might take another look at that.

02:27Yeah, it says zero.

02:28You may still be correct, but I'll be happy to get back to you.

02:31I want to move on to the Perkins program, which, again,

02:36is very important in the state of Connecticut.

02:37I was at a graduation ceremony on Wednesday in Groton where 170 high schoolers

02:43were given job offers by Electric Boat Shipyard because of Perkins grants funded programs,

02:48both in tech schools and comprehensive high schools and welding, metal trades.

02:53The hype, again, from this administration is that they're going to support trades schools,

02:58but looking at your budget, again, it's a zero increase in the Perkins line item,

03:03which I guess could have been worse.

03:06You could have cut it in terms of the program, but in terms of meeting the moment of job openings,

03:12which you mentioned in your opening remarks, and certainly we have huge job openings in southeastern Connecticut.

03:18This budget does not match the rhetoric in terms of trade schools or the trades.

03:24What I want to ask you is that, you know, we're trying to figure out in terms of just the interaction

03:29between job training programs at the Department of Labor and Perkins grant program,

03:33and can you tell me, again, whether or not it is your intention to move the Office of Career, Technical,

03:39and Adult Education to the Department of Labor?

03:42Well, thank you for that question, Representative.

03:46I can tell you that one of the executive orders from the President was that the Commerce Department,

03:53Department of Labor, and Department of Education should coordinate and look at workforce programs.

03:58There were over 43 different workforce development programs across all of the agencies.

04:04It's certainly inefficient in operation.

04:06So I've had many discussions with Commerce.

04:09I've had many discussions with the Secretary of Labor,

04:11and I think there are opportunities to move some of those programs into other agencies.

04:15Well, in your discussions, I would hope you would note the fact that it's in statute

04:19that that office is in the Department of Education.

04:21Perkins was enacted after the Department of Education was created.

04:25It is housed in the Department of Education, and we are going to be watching very closely

04:30in terms of whether or not there's a move made that violates that law.

04:34I also would just note, in closing, the adult education line item was zeroed out, which is just stunning.

04:41I mean, this is a program that allows adult learners to get a second chance in life,

04:45because some people who didn't complete high school on time, and also immigrants who, again,

04:51want to get the literacy skills so that they can get naturalized as citizens.

04:55I'm speaking at an adult, I was invited to speak at an adult education graduation ceremony

04:59in Vernon Friday night, and again, it's pretty sad to be able to bring news from Washington

05:06that the Secretary of Education doesn't support adult education.

05:10With that, I yield back.

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