President Trump hails Catholic school and its mission of 'college and heaven'

Trump and DeVos kick off political battle on behalf of school choice in the country.

U.S. President Donald Trump visited the St. Andrew Catholic School in Orlando, Florida to continue to spread awareness toward his goals for change within the country's educational system.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Joined by his Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, Senator Marco Rubio and Florida Governor Rick Scott, President Trump hailed the Florida school tuition assistance program.

"We want millions more to have the same chance to achieve the great success that you're achieving," expressed Trump during his private listening session with school administrators.

The Florida program allows low-income students to attend private schools by using public money. With this program and the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program, hundreds of low-income children can attend St. Andrew Catholic School.

It would usually cost over $6,000 to attend this private religious school, but with the program, businesses receive a tax credit for donating to the nonprofit scholarship organizations that help students attend these otherwise unreachable institutions.

The goal is to "expand education opportunities for children from families that have limited financial resources; and to enable children to achieve a greater level of excellence in their education," according to its website.

These type of programs are the center of the Trump Administration's proposed changes to the federal educational policy.

"I am calling upon members of both parties to pass an education bill that funds school choice for disadvantaged youth, including millions of African-American and Latino children," Trump said in a speech to Congress last week. "These families should be free to choose the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school that is right for them."

"In fact, our children will grow up in a nation of miracles. But to achieve this future, we must enrich the mind - and the souls - of every American child. Education is the civil rights issue of our time."

However, many Democrats and teacher unions believe such a program will take money away from the public school system, thus harming public schools and leaving those students worse off.

"It's sad that rather than listening to the public they are sworn to represent and who have a deep connection to public schools, Trump and DeVos' first official joint trip is to a religious school, which they use as a backdrop for their ideological crusade," stated Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, noting President Trump and DeVos demonstrate an "antipathy" for public schools.

Nonetheless, President Trump has stated he will indeed ask Congress to pass a school choice law to open up the possibility of programs similar to Florida's.

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