The Council for National Policy Wants Betsy DeVos to Christianize Public Schools – CNP “Education Reform Report”

The Washington Post has, thankfully, drawn attention to some very concerning plans on the part of the powerful, secretive conservative group the Council for National Policy to undermine the separation of church and state in America. Specifically, the CNP seems confident it can convince Betsy DeVos to move not only toward pushing for “school choice”–i.e., using vouchers to direct federal funding toward Christian schools like the one I went to, that indoctrinate children in fundamentalism and right-wing politics and usually teach young earth creationism–but also toward instating the promotion of Christianity in public schools, by, for example, posting the ten commandments in all public schools.

The CNP report cited by WaPo, which was put together by the organization’s Education Committee, even calls on Trump and DeVos to work toward dismantling the Department of Education (the report’s actual language), replacing it with a sub-cabinet “President’s Advisory Council on Public Education Reform”and returning all educational oversight to the states. In a subsequent post at some point, I will probably explain in more detail why the CNP and the Christian Right generally see federal education standards as “social engineering.” This hinges on an anti-pluralist argument that there can be no real religious neutrality, and thus, in not promoting any religion over another, our public schools in fact indoctrinate children in “secular humanism.” This argument should be understood and unpacked for the bullshit it is, but for now, you should read the entire five-page CNP report for yourself.

I downloaded and read the report after Twitter user @ReaderAdrift posted a link to it on Twitter. It seems that after the policy agenda began to receive attention, the CNP took the report down (the original link, at least, no longer works), so I am uploading the report here for you to download and read. The public has a right to know the details of the theocratic agenda being pushed by conservative white Evangelicals and traditionalist Catholics who have a frightening amount of power in the Trump administration.

Download the CNP Education Committee Policy Report Here