State schools chief: No education dollars to arm teachers

Apparently reacting to media reports in August that U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos might allow schools to use federal education dollars to train and arm teachers, New York’s education commissioner on Thursday issued a memorandum banning public schools from doing just that.

Commissioner MaryEllen Elia, in a Sept. 12 memo, affirmed the rights of all New York students “to attend school in a safe and secure environment that is free of weapons.” The memo said that local educational agencies could not use any federal or state funds for purchasing or training school staff in the use of firearms, no matter the case.

“There is no place in our schools for weapons, no matter the intentions,” Elia said.

DeVos’s staff pushed back on the initial report in late-August, insisting that the department was responding to an inquiry from education officials in Texas, and no decision had been made.

Still, according to CNN, the Department of Education left the matter open. Spokeswoman Liz Hill told reporters that the department “is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety.”

Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat, responded to the report by saying that her administration opposes the use of federal funds to arm teachers. “Every penny of federal grants should go towards our children’s educational enrichment,” Curran said, “not towards bringing firearms into their classrooms.”

Elia said that even if federal guidelines allowed states to use education money for arming teachers and related expenses, states generally have the ability to be more restrictive when it comes to their schools. Guns in the hands of teachers and other staff would also run contrary to the state’s Every Student Succeeds Act guidelines, Elia said. “We simply cannot afford to use federal education dollars that are intended for teaching and learning to pay for weapons that will compromise our schools and communities,” Elia added.

State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, who wrote Elia in August expressing concern about the possible federal changes, agreed with the NYSED memo.

“Sadly, the administration in Washington believes that more guns is the answer,” Kaminsky said. “The educators that I regularly speak with instead believe that guns in classrooms make everyone less safe, and that precious federal funds should be spent on increasing access to educational resources.”

DeVos had said, in an Aug. 31 letter to Rep. Bobby Scott, of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, that she intended to leave the matter up to the states.

“Let me be clear: I have no intention of taking any action concerning the purchase of firearms or firearms training for school staff,” she said. “Congress did not authorize me or the department to make those decisions.”