Viewpoints of DeVos as Demonstrated in Confirmation Hearing
If you watched the confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, who is working for Secretary of Education, couldn’t and wouldn’t answer the questions posed to her by the Senate Committee. I receive the AFT Hotline email and wanted to share excerpts of the email in case you were not aware of DeVos’ performance before the Senate Committee.
The Committee fought to have a second round of questioning as they were not clear and satisfied with the answers, or lack of answers, she gave to the Senate Committee. The Committee Chairperson refused even though proof was given to a precedent of second rounds to ask more questions or seek clarification of the answers given when asked by various Senators. Betsy DeVos was uninformed and noncommittal on a variety of questions posed to her. The email text below sums up her responses and viewpoint on education for America’s students.
We already knew that Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, would be a problem for America’s schoolchildren. She has used her vast wealth to drive for privatization of K-12 education and has fought efforts to hold private operators accountable for the quality of their publicly funded educational services in her home state of Michigan, despite their inferior track record. Now, after her extraordinary display of sheer ignorance of basic educational policy matters in her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday evening, we know the problem is even worse than we thought.
Example: DeVos, in answer to senators’ questions, made it clear that she did not know the first thing about federal civil-rights law affecting students with disabilities, blithely and incorrectly assuming that states could freely deviate from federal requirements for the education of these children. She also revealed a lack of understanding of basic educational terminology when asked whether standardized tests should be used as a proficiency measure or a growth measure. Her testimony on these and other points showed a disturbing pattern of ignorance, evasion, and ideological rigidity instead of evidence-based reasoning. Her chief qualification for the Cabinet post as the nation’s leading educational policy-maker apparently is her status as a massive donor to the political campaigns of candidates who pledge their allegiance to vouchers and other forms of educational privatization.
Her nomination highlights a stark dividing line in the current public debate over the future of education. This is really a tale of two movements. One is an effort to undermine and privatize public education. Donald Trump nominated the most unqualified, inexperienced, anti-public-education person he could find to lead the Department of Education. Betsy DeVos’ record makes clear that she is not interested in strengthening the public schools that 90 percent of America’s children attend.
There is an advocacy Google group that I can connect you with the founder of the group if you are interested in joining. Leave a comment and I will contact you via email to be connected. It is startling and crazed how the legislators are voting and Trump’s candidates viewpoints on important points facing our nation for a variety of positions seeking confirmation. We must protect our schools and act now to let our legislatures know about our viewpoints on the proposed candidates for Trump’s head positions and cabinet appointments.
