In May, when Education Week Opinion invited Jim Blew and Roberto Rodriguez to have a conversation on video, the goal was for them to share their perspectives on the future of the U.S. Department of Education—and its value (or lack thereof) to the K-12 field. Education advocates but political opposites, Blew, a Republican, and Rodriguez, a Democrat, have worked in the field of K-12 education for most of their careers.
They also each held the same position—assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development—at the Education Department under different administrations: Blew under Secretary Betsy DeVos during President Donald Trump’s first administration and Rodriguez under Secretary Miguel Cardona during the Biden administration. Among their many positions: Blew, the co-founder of the Defense of Freedom Institute, previously led StudentsFirst, an advocacy group, and the Alliance for School Choice; and Rodriguez served as a key architect of the Every Student Succeeds Act under President Barack Obama and later led Teach Plus, an organization focused on engaging educators in policy.
During the conversation, they addressed investment in the teacher workforce, the future of education research, civil rights enforcement, and the harnessing of AI, among other topics.
Given the fast-moving news cycle, I reached out to both former assistant secretaries by email to offer them a final opportunity to add anything additional to the conversation before it published.
Blew pointed to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes a first-ever federal program of tax credits for donations to organizations that provide scholarships for private school tuition and other K-12 services. He also highlighted the Education Department’s addition of $60 million in grants for charter schools.
“I’d argue these two school choice roles are student-centric and add to the positive trend away from a large, dominant federal agency,” Blew wrote.
Rodriguez pointed to the Trump administration’s freeze on nearly $7 billion in education funds for most of July, and a bipartisan Senate appropriations committee vote to reject the administration’s proposed cuts to Education Department grants and the agency itself.
“Sadly, their continued efforts to curb equity and inclusion have sowed division and confounded college leaders, using civil rights laws that have for decades upheld access for all students to learn and thrive,” he wrote.
The value of Blew and Rodriguez’s exchange is not just in the policy details, but also in their answer to this question: How can the country’s education system move forward to create greater student success? In a polarized time, the two respect each other and share a surprising amount of common ground.
In addition to watching this conversation, it’s also a great listen on the go.