Education Secretary Betsy DeVos keeps running into roadblocks in her efforts to rollback Obama-era education policies, according to a report from Politico.
DeVos is trying to rescind policies regarding student loan forgiveness, arbitration agreements, and racial disparities.
"The latest legal blow came earlier this month when a federal judge ruled DeVos illegally postponed a regulation requiring states to identify school districts where there are significant racial disparities among the students placed in special education programs," the report said. "And last week, Education Department officials began implementing a sweeping package of Obama-era student loan policies after DeVos lost a lawsuit over delaying them last fall."
DeVos argues that student loan forgiveness policies cost taxpayers too much money. A judge ruled that DeVos did not have substantial reasoning for wanting to undo the policies.
"Judges in the cases decided so far have said the Trump administration ran afoul of the Administrative Procedures Act, ruling that the department’s efforts to delay policies were arbitrary or lacked a reasoned basis," the report said.
Toby Merrill, who directs the Harvard Law School’s Project on Predatory Student Lending, said that DeVos is making basic legal mistakes.
“It speaks to the Department of Education’s unwillingness or inability to follow the basic law around how federal agencies conduct themselves,” Merrill told Politico.
Adding, “At the very least, they cross their Ts and dot their Is and therefore are less vulnerable to some of the procedural challenges that have been the undoing of so many of this Department of Education’s policies.
Former Education Department official Aaron Ament said that DeVos’ attempt to leave a "conservative imprint" on the Department of Education will not work if the administration continues to act like the "rules don't apply to them."
