WASHINGTON — Betsy DeVos, the education secretary, is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding intended to increase academic and enrichment opportunities in the country’s poorest schools to purchase guns for educators, according to multiple people with knowledge of the plan.
Such a move appears to be unprecedented, reversing a long-standing position taken by the federal government that it should not pay to outfit schools with weapons.
It would also undermine efforts by Congress to restrict the use of federal funding on guns. As recently as March, Congress passed a school safety bill that allocated $50 million a year to local school districts but expressly prohibited the use of the money for firearms.
The Education Department is eyeing a program in federal law, the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants, that makes no mention of prohibiting weapons purchases.
That omission would allow DeVos to use her discretion to approve any state or district plans to use grant funding for firearms and firearm training, unless Congress clarifies the law or bars such funding through legislative action.