Penn Hill Group Principal Vic Klatt was quoted in two Education Week articles last week. On November 9, in Education Week’s “Trump Might Want to Scrap the Education Department; How Doable Is That?” article, Klatt commented on the possibility of abolishing the Department of Education (ED);

“That’s a heavy lift, and there [are] some Republicans that may not be comfortable with that, said Vic Klatt, a former aide to House Republicans on the education committee who is now a principal at Penn Hill Group, a government relations organization in Washington. He thinks such a proposal could get tripped up in the Senate, which requires a 60-vote threshold to get past procedural hurdles.”

Additionally, Klatt commented on ED’s programs;

“What’s more, Klatt said, the agency itself may not be as paramount as the programs that it operates. At the end of the day what matters most is not the structure, it’s the programs. I don’t think the new president has given any indication that he’s likely to get rid of the most important programs, Klatt said.”

Klatt was also quoted in Education Week’s article released on November 10, “Every Student Succeeds Act Under Trump: Five Things to Watch.” Klatt was asked about the precedent that the Bush and Obama Administrations set by not enforcing every requirement in the No Child Left Behind Act, and how that may affect the enforcement of requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

“There could certainly be similar examples of things that are on the books in ESSA, or the Obama Administration’s regulations for the law, said Vic Klatt, a one-time aide to House Republicans who is now a principal at Penn Hill Group. And since the Trump Administration will be the first to enforce ESSA, it could be easier and less disruptive for it to simply ignore parts of the law than it would be for another administration down the line, he said.”