FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Marie Gordon, 770-661-0999
Isakson to DeVos: How Will You Aid Students as Education Secretary?
Presses Department of Education nominee on positions regarding financial aid, pre-K
WASHINGTON
– During a hearing of the Senate committee that oversees education,
U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., questioned
Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. secretary
of education, regarding her positions on reducing burdensome regulations
that make higher education more costly and less attainable for
students. Isakson also asked DeVos about her views
on the role of public-private pre-Kindergarten partnerships as an
important part of public education in the United States.
At
the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
hearing on Tuesday, Isakson brought to DeVos’ attention 59 regulations
identified as overly burdensome to higher education by the
Task
Force on Government Regulation. He inquired as to her plans to assist
in reducing these burdens and specifically mentioned legislation he has
previously introduced to simplify the federal financial
aid process, called the Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency Act.
Several
institutions of higher education in Georgia, including Georgia
Institute of Technology, Emory University and the University of Georgia,
have also supported a study, which would help reduce
overly burdensome regulations and requirements in higher education,
several of which the Secretary can implement unilaterally.
“Would you commit to working with our office to advance the recommendations of the task force on higher education?” Isakson
pressed.
DeVos agreed,
“I don’t think we should make it any more difficult than absolutely
necessary for students to be able to further their education.” She
further indicated that she would look forward
to implementing this measure among other regulations at the U.S.
Department of Education to help students and institutions of learning.
Isakson
also inquired of DeVos her thoughts on pre-Kindergarten programs.
Isakson used as an example Georgia’s positive public-private and
faith-based partnership that aids in the state’s successful
pre-K programming.
Isakson praised DeVos’ understanding
that yesterday’s “non-traditional” student today makes up a large
portion of students in both undergraduate and higher education today.
“The
nontraditional student of 25 years ago, has become the traditional
student of today. Not every kid lives in an academically enriched
environment, and we have to be able to [educate] our kids
to do the jobs of the 21st century in different ways all the time,” said Isakson, who also serves as chairman of the labor and workforce subcommittee.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote on confirmation of DeVos as secretary of the U.S. Department of Education in the coming weeks.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote on confirmation of DeVos as secretary of the U.S. Department of Education in the coming weeks.
Background
In 2015, Isakson introduced the bipartisan
Financial Aid Simplification
and Transparency Act, or
FAST Act, which would transform the federal process of applying
for and receiving federal financial aid to attend college, to allow
year-round use of Pell Grants, to discourage over-borrowing and simplify
repayments.
The
bill would reduce the questions some 20 million Americans must answer
to apply for federal financial aid down to a single postcard—called the
“Student Aid Short Form”—and would inform high school
students in their junior year of the amount they’ll receive in federal
aid to help pay for college.
It
would also address the problem of some students taking on too much debt
by limiting the amount a student can borrow based on enrollment. The
Financial Aid Simplification and Transparency Act would also
simplify the options students have to repay their federal loans and
streamline federal grant and loan programs to better serve more students
more effectively.
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AMANDA MADDOX
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Communications Director
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OFFICE OF UNITED STATES SENATOR JOHNNY ISAKSON
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131 Russell Senate Office Building | Washington, DC 20510
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phone: 202.224.3643
| fax: 202.228.0724
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Visit Johnny’s
website
to learn more about his work in the Senate and to sign up for his newsletter.
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