Trump's top VP contender Tim Scott accuses Biden of resegregating public schools

As the race to the White House intensifies, former US President Donald Trump’s leading candidate to be his VP running mate, Tim Scott, falsely claimed that President Joe Biden is trying to “resegregate public schools”. The US Senator from South Carolina made these provocative remarks while he was highlighting why black voters should cast their vote for Trump in the upcoming 2024 presidential elections.

While speaking to CNN, Scott claimed that the 81-year-old US President is a supporter of educational segregation. “We need four more years of common sense under Donald Trump, and not four more years of segregation under Joe Biden,” Scott told the American news outlet. In the past, the conservative leader has expressed his desire to be on Trump’s ticket.

“The elimination of charter schools under Joe Biden resegregates schools in America” Scott justified when asked if making such claims is going too far. He added that schools in the largest cities were being resegregated by “Joe Biden’s Department of Education which has halted the growth of charter schools that provide greater diversity”.

Scott uses Harris’ criticism to defend his attack

During the interview, the South Carolina governor brought up comments that Vice President Kamala Harris made in 2019, while she was running against Biden for the Democratic ticket. Harris at that time highlighted Biden’s opposition to school busing in the 1970s and his recollections of working with segregationist senators in an environment of “civility.”

“The only person I have seen restraining Black folks economically is the Joe Biden economy,” Scott remarked without going much into details.

Charter schools are publicly funded and are outside the purview of the state school systems. They are backed by federal government grants through the Charter Schools Program to the tune of $440 million a year.

The relationship between charter schools and segregation has always been a matter of debate. While some claim that the schools emerge as a strong means of desegregation, there are researchers who argue that they increase segregation.

The funding to these schools remained unchanged since 2019 under the Trump administration. The Biden administration has also set stricter rules for charter schools applying for federal grants. Not only this, Biden’s most recent budget proposal called for decreasing funding for charter schools while increasing funding for the Education Department overall.