When Donald Trump named Betsy DeVos as his pick for heading the Department of Education opponents of school choice, school vouchers, charter school, and parental control warned that could mean the end of public education as we know it. Those who voted for Trump see her choice as his intention to eventually do just that – end Federal control for education.
At the same time, some conservatives worry that Devos, as an advocate for Common Core standards, may not move quickly enough or in the direction they had hoped.
DeVos has been active in the Republican Party for decades in her home state of Michigan and is chairwoman of the American Federation for Children. In spite of worries about her support of Common Core, conservatives also recognize that she has been an advocate for school vouchers and tax credits for parents who choose private over public schools.
Trump’s transition office said in a statement that the discussion with DeVos “was focused on the Common Core mission, and setting higher national standards and promoting the growth of school choice across the nation.”
One of Trump’s major themes during the campaign was the problems with public education and Common Core specifically. Common Core is a set of education standards adopted in many states aimed at improving student proficiency in English and math. DeVos donated to the foundation started by Jeb Bush, who in the past has supported Common Core.
Most of those opposed to Common Core that voted for Trump are confident that Devos will follow his lead in spite of her past support of the education plan.
In presenting DeVos, Trump said DeVos is “a brilliant and passionate education advocate.” Most heartening to conservatives is that he also said the mission he was assigning to her is to “break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.”
Public school advocates are far from pleased at her appointment. The National Education Association (NEA), the union that represents more than three million educators, criticized her support of vouchers to pay for elementary and secondary education.
“She has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers — which take away funding and local control from our public schools — to fund private schools at taxpayers’ expense,’’ said Lily Eskelsen García, NEA’s president. “These schemes do nothing to help our most-vulnerable students while they ignore or exacerbate glaring opportunity gaps.’’
Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, Kary Moss, showed liberals anxiety at the choice of DeVos as education secretary. In a statement released by Moss, she said:
“We strongly urge Congress to scrutinize the record of Betsy DeVos, who has been a staunch proponent of school vouchers, a misguided idea that diverts taxpayer dollars into private and parochial schools and perverts the bedrock American value of separation of church and state. She and her husband served as the primary fundraisers and engine for a Michigan ballot initiative — Kids First! Yes! Coalition that voters soundly rejected in 2000.
She has ardently supported the unlimited, unregulated growth of charter schools in Michigan, elevating for-profit schools with no consideration of the severe harm done to traditional public schools. She’s done this despite overwhelming evidence that proves that charters do no better at educating children than traditional public schools and serve only to exacerbate funding problems for cash-strapped public districts. We believe that all children have a right to a quality public education, and we fear that Betsy DeVos’ relentless advocacy of charter schools and vouchers betrays these principles.”
DeVos has no background in public education but she is a lifelong advocate of parental choice. In her home state of Michigan, she has championed home schooling, charter schools, and a return of oversight of public schools to the states.
For decades, the Republican Party has resolutely stated its support for local control. Throughout his campaign, President-Elect Trump agreed, stating that “education has to be local.” In 2015, when asked if he would “cut departments,” Trump said, “I’m not cutting services, but I am cutting spending. But I may cut the Department of Education.”
Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan called for the termination of the Department of Education. Reagan’s secretary of education, Terrell H. Bell, undermined Reagan’s plan to do away with the cabinet-level bureau. Thirty years later, it is hoped that Trump remembers that lesson from history.
~American Liberty Report
