The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, or DFI, is a right-leaning nonprofit organization that focuses on education, labor, and employment issues. It also supports limiting the power of federal agencies and government-sector unions. ¹

Two former U.S. Department of Education officials during the Trump administration, Robert S. Eitel and Jim Blew, founded DFI. ²  

Background

The Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies is a conservative-leaning nonprofit that says it tries to defend and advance freedom for families, students, entrepreneurs, and workers. ³

Robert S. Eitel and Jim Blew, both former U.S. Department of Education officials who worked for Secretary Betsy DeVos during the Trump administration, cofounded the DFI. ⁴ Blew and Eitel started the group as a conservative group focused on limited government, free speech, and religious liberty in education and labor. ⁵

The DFI says it supports freedom of speech and contends that laws should be “color blind.” ⁶

Policies

The Defense of Freedom Institute supports school choice initiatives that include charter public schools, private or parochial schools, micro-schools, or home schools. The organization argues public schools do a poor job of preparing students for careers or for higher education. ⁷

The DFI opposes teaching critical race theory in public schools. ⁸

The organization contends many college graduates are unprepared for work and that universities’ and colleges’ reliance on federal loans and grants from students has driven tuition inflation. The DFI backs policies to require better governance of the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid to reduce taxpayer risk, discourage overborrowing, provide incentives to completing a degree program, and promoting alternatives to four-year degrees. ⁹

The DFI backs workforce development programs such as short-term credentials and earn-to-learn programs. This would include apprenticeships. ¹⁰

Leadership

Robert S. Eitel is co-founder and president of the DFI. He worked in the George W. Bush administration and the Trump administration. He was the senior counselor to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos from 2017 through 2020 and deputy general counsel of the U.S. Department of Education from 2005 until 2009 under Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. He was the Department’s Regulatory Reform Officer and was involved in reforms concerning Title IX and the Higher Education Act. He previously practiced law in New Orleans. ¹¹

Jim Blew is a co-founder of DFI. He was an assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development at the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary DeVos. Before working for the federal department, he worked in education reform at the state level for more than 20 years.  Blew was the national president of StudentsFirst and the national director of the Alliance for School Choice. He also helped guide the education reform investments of the Walton Family Foundation. ¹²

Legal Work

The DFI had the assistance of former Attorney General Bill Barr for an amicus brief for the Supreme Court case, Carson v. Makin. ¹³ The case regards a Maine program that allows residents to attend a private high school if the local district doesn’t have a public school. However, Maine did not allow plaintiffs, Dave and Amy Carson, to send their daughter to a Christian school. ¹⁴ The DFI contends this was discriminatory. ¹⁵

Barr’s brief for the DFI says, “Maine’s law is the reflection of the relentless campaign of secularization intent on driving every vestige of traditional religion from the public square.” ¹⁶

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14. Housler, Kaitlin. “Educational Think Tank Calls on Supreme Court to Uphold the Constitutional Rights of Parents.” The Tennessee Star. September 13, 2021. Accessed September 16, 2021. https://tennesseestar.com/2021/09/13/educational-think-tank-calls-on-supreme-court-to-protect-constitutional-rights-of-parents/
15.  “Former AG Bill Barr, David Boies guide brief in Maine non secular faculty training Supreme Court case.” AMK Post. Accessed September 16, 2021. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/barr-boies-support-brief-maine-religious-school-tuition-supreme-court
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