The Department of Education is weighing whether to let states use federal funds to buy guns for teachers, several people familiar with the matter told The New York Times on Wednesday.
The federal government has long held the position that it should not provide schools money to buy firearms, and when Congress passed a school safety bill in March allocating $50 million to school districts, lawmakers stipulated that the money could not be used to purchase weapons. But Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has found a potential loophole in the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants, the Times reports. That program has not explicitly banned weapons purchases, and unless Congress takes legislative action, DeVos could approve state or district plans that use the grants to buy guns and pay for training, the Times says.
Liz Hill, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, told the Times "the department is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety. The secretary nor the department issues opinions on hypothetical scenarios."
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