Trump Says He'll 'Spend A Lot Of Money' On Schools, Despite Promising Billions In Education Cuts

President Donald Trump told a town hall meeting of business executives on Tuesday he would "spend a lot of money" on education, even though his proposed budget would slash spending on schools by about $9 billion.

He also vowed to end an educational stands program embraced by most U.S. states, even though it isn't a federal program.

During the town hall in Washington, Trump hammered away at one of his main themes for education: shifting control from federal to state and local authorities.

Trump's fiscal 2018 budget would slash the Department of Education budget by $9 billion (about 13 percent) "while pouring an additional $1.4 billion into school choice programs." But still, he told his audience Tuesday:

"We're going to spend a lot of money and a lot of expertise, we're going to have great talent when it comes to education, because there's nothing more important than education."

Trump Wants To Kill Common Core

Trump also reiterated his desire to do away with the Common Core State Standards, voluntary programs for improving education embraced by 42 states and Washington, D.C., singling out New York, Chicago and Los Angeles as places where it wasn't working.

"I like the fact of getting rid of Common Core. Common Core to me, we have to end it," Trump said. "We have to bring education local."

The Los Angeles Times pointed out that Common Core isn't a federal program, but a set of learning goals agreed on by nonprofit groups and several governors.

As with other proposed cuts, Trump's stand on education is considered by many opponents as an assault on the public school system.

He praised his choice of education secretary, Betsy DeVos, a Republican donor and proponent of school voucher systems. The Washington Post reported Monday that DeVos' brother, Blackwater founder Erik Prince, tried to establish a back-channel line of communication between the Trump camp and Moscow.

Image: Emily Elconin