Just make schools better
8/28/2018
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is reportedly considering allowing states to tap a fund for educational overhaul and improvement to buy guns for educators
U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has suggested that federal funds might be employed to purchase weapons for use by teachers to defend students in the classroom.
She should focus on learning and teaching.
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The Every Student Succeeds Act grant program allows federal funds to pay for “improving school conditions,” and Ms. DeVos thinks guns could be interpreted as an improvement.
It is safe to say that arming teachers is not what Congress had in mind when it passed the act.
It may well be that, in some cases, a teacher armed and experienced in firearms could deter an attacker. And that would be, of course, highly desirable and laudable. But that is a very special, highly localized situation.
The feds arming the nation’s teachers is another proposition entirely.
School shootings are a huge national problem and we need to address it with effective screening for gun ownership and limits on the availability of some guns, along with a rebuilt and widely accessible mental health system.
But schools that don’t educate are also a huge national problem, and this is, theoretically Ms. DeVos’ responsibility. She ought to stick to reading, writing and arithmetic.