DeVos suggests giving parents federal education money if their schools 'refuse to open'

The Trump administration has seemingly changed tack on its pressure campaign to make sure schools reopen in the fall.

On Wednesday, Trump threatened to cut off funding to public schools if they don't reopen, even though the COVID-19 pandemic will likely make it unsafe to do so. But on Thursday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos vaguely suggested the funding wouldn't necessarily be cut, it just may be available for families to use in a different way.

"If schools aren't going to reopen, we're not suggesting pulling funding from education," DeVos told Fox News in a interview. "Instead," the government is considering "allowing families ... (to) take that money and figure out where their kids can get educated if their schools are going to refuse to open," she said. It's unclear if that very broad idea is even possible, seeing as Congress mandates how federal funds can be used. DeVos has long been a proponent of charter schools, which use government funding but run separately from public schools, and letting parents use tax vouchers to pay for education at private schools.

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After President Trump complained about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for reopening schools being "too tough," Vice President Mike Pence said the guidelines would be revised.