Many private schools are on the verge of shutting down if they don’t receive federal coronavirus relief, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told Fox News on Sunday.
DeVos asked Congress for coronavirus relief that would help school choice and said that private schools are close to closing if they do not receive the assistance, according to Fox News. (RELATED: Federal Judge Blocks Betsy DeVos Rule On Private School COVID Funds)
“We need to have immediate relief for those schools,” DeVos told Fox News.
“Think about the impact of all of these kids who suddenly now are showing up at the traditional public school door because they no longer have this other option. That’s a crisis in the making right there,” DeVos said.
At least 160 private schools have closed in 2020 for good because of the economic struggles from the coronavirus, according to Fox News.
Since tax revenue is gone and there hasn’t been relief assistance from Congress, public schools are also seeing challenges from economic struggles and teachers are also being laid off, Fox News reports.
Education Secretary Betsy Devos (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)
DeVos told Fox News about the wave of private school closings, including many Catholic schools, while she spoke about how coronavirus relief for school choice could help some types of faith-based schools.
“It would have an immediate impact, first of all, for those kids in those schools that are at risk of closing,” DeVos said, according to Fox News.
“If they don’t get additional resources or students able to enroll and bring the tuition, there are more that are at risk of closing,” DeVos told Fox News.
DeVos said that a lot of “major urban areas have not reopened in person,” adding that her “greatest fear is for the kids who are the most vulnerable — for the ones whose parents don’t have the financial resources to do something different. They’re the ones who always get the short end of the straw.”
“That is not right,” DeVos said.
“It is unjust, and it’s something that I have been fighting for more than 30 years, which is exactly why we need to give the parents the resources … [to] decide what is best for them and their kids,” she continued.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for further comment.
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