As many of you may know, Betsy DeVos is Trump’s appointment for secretary of education, pending senate approval. Although most of Trump’s cabinet appointments have been unusual and concerning on many levels. Betsy DeVos’s track record threatens the future of education greatly. Given that she has absolutely no experience in the public education sector is why her position as secretary of education is so strange.
The duties of the secretary of education are focused on federal policies, programs, and activities that affect public education in the United States. They are also responsible for all issues related to the accreditation, eligibility, and the certification process of higher education. Past secretaries of state such as John King Jr. (secretary of education 2015-2016) have previous experience in overseeing public education. King was the Commissioner of Education of the state of New York for several years (2011-2014), during his term he was able to create and implement a student a new teacher and leader evaluation program that is tailored to attend to individual learning needs of each student.
Betsy DeVos has never attended, worked in, or sent her children to a public school. On top of that she has absolutely no government experience or experience running any large organization. In fact, the closest she has ever gotten to political experience is through her lobbying efforts. Her efforts have centered around gaining federal and state paid vouchers that provide funds to private, religious institutions.
Nominees for secretary of education usually breeze through the senate confirmation, but for DeVos the process has been particularly drawn out. Her confirmation hearing was originally scheduled for January 10, 2017 but the Office of Government Ethics asked that it be delayed for a week so that they could have time to review discrepancies in her financial disclosures. On January 17, 2017 the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor, and pensions led the hearing which was long and heated. Most of the concern was based on her history of political donations and her proposed system of “school choice”.
In her opening statement for her confirmation hearing DeVos states, “Parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child, and they know other options exist, whether magnet, virtual, charter, home, religious or any combination thereof.” In theory, this sounds perfectly reasonable. Parents should be able to have a say and be in involved in the education that their children receive. The problem comes in with DeVos’s idea of what “school choice” means. She believes that education in the United States should be opened up to for-profit schools or in other words that education should be privatized.
All 11 democratic senators on the committee voted against DeVos’s confirmation, but were outvoted by the Republican majority. On January 31, 2017 her nomination was approved by the committee but has yet to be approved by the senate itself.
Senator Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the committee, insists that there needs to be more careful evaluation of Devos’ conflicts of interest and her questionable dedication to ensuring a fair education for all. “I have not been persuaded that Betsy DeVos will put students first if she were confirmed, and I have not been persuaded that she has the experience, skills, understanding, or vision to lead this critical department at a time when it is more important than ever,” Ms. Murray said. “From everything we heard, everything we know, and all of the questions that still remain, it is clear to me that Betsy DeVos is the wrong choice to lead our nation’s Department of Education.”
As millennials, we should all be terrified with what Betsy DeVos’ plans are for the future of public education in this country.
