US Education Dept cuts 'an intentional spiral' downward

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- Washington Sen. Patty Murray minced no words talking about the massive cuts President Trump made to the Education Department.

"Trump wants to suck away money from public schools, suck away money from our schools, and give it to billionaires," Murray said at a forum of Senate Democrats in DC on Tuesday.

Since Trump took office, the US Department of Education has been nearly cut in half -- from 4000 staff members to 2183 in a little more than 3 months.

Oregon and Washington are two of 20 states to sue the Trump Administration over the cuts to DOE. Those cuts severely impacted the department's Institute of Education Sciences, which generates critical research on K-12 public education in the US.

Data from that research is then used to determine if support and intervention is required on the federal level.

Oregon State Sen. Lew Frederick, the chair of the senate's education committee, said the absence of that research could send public schools in Oregon and around the country into a tailspin.

"The information will not come in, the information that does come in won't be positive," Frederick told KOIN 6 News. "It is a spiral, an intentional spiral."

Foundations for a Better Oregon, a non-profit that tracks student outcomes and state investments in education, told KOIN 6 News the cuts at DOE make it more critical than ever for Oregon to collect its own data on student learning.

New legislation proposed by Gov. Tina Kotek would do exactly that. House Bill 2009 and its corresponding Senate Bill 141 both direct school districts to collect their own data about student learning.