Betsy DeVos (Educ Secy) Feebly Tries to Defend Harsh Trump Budget: Earns “F”

Possibly the Worst Edu Secy in our Nation's History

Betsy DeVos as the Education Secretary must go… she is a disgrace and a threat to public education and just because she was appointed by Trump does not in anyway make her qualified or presumed to be qualified for the task – she is not.

Take for example her recent appearance and testimony in the House as reported on here from the Washington Post — this proves my point.

Highlights from that appearance follow this short reminder of who she is and what she stands for – she, a billionaire in a very key job. BTW: she was only confirmed by one vote and that was when VP Pence had to cast the tie breaking vote – which underscores just how unpopular and unqualified she truly is:

Betsy DeVos: Her background and views:

DeVos believes education in the United States should be opened up to for-profit charter schools.

She says “public education is a closed system, a closed industry, a closed market. It's a monopoly, a dead end.”

She believes that opening up the education market will offer parents increased choice, a view that critics call a drive to privatize the American public education system.

She is known as “a fierce proponent of school vouchers” that would allow students to attend private schools with public funding. According to The New York Times, it “is hard to find anyone more passionate about the idea of steering public dollars away from traditional public schools than Betsy DeVos.”

DeVos has been attacked for not having much of a connection to public schools, too – and that is true. She never attended public schools and neither did her children – they all attended privately-funded Christian schools. DeVos advocates expanding charter schools, even that means taking public money to fund them or to be used for vouchers for non-public schools, to include religious schools.

Now to the main story: Fielding questions from members of a House appropriations subcommittee, DeVos said in part: “...states should decide how to address chronic absenteeism, mental health and suicide risks among students, and states should decide whether children taking vouchers are protected by federal special-education law.”

Asked by Rep. Katherine M. Clark (D-MA) whether she could think of any circumstance in which the federal government should step in to stop federal dollars from going to private schools that discriminate against certain groups of students, DeVos did not directly answer, adding: “We have to do something different than continuing a top-down, one-size-fits all approach.”

Democrats immediately criticized that DeVos’s philosophy, saying the nation’s top education official must be willing to defend children against discrimination by institutions that get federal money like this from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) who said: “To take the federal government’s responsibility out of that is just appalling and sad”

DeVos pushed back against that notion that the Education Department would be abdicating its authority, saying in part: “I am not in any way suggesting that students should not be protected.”

DeVos had traveled to Capitol Hill to defend a spending plan that has drawn criticism from both ends of the political spectrum that includes Trump’s proposal to cut some 10.6 billion from federal education initiatives, including: (1) after-school programs, (2) teacher training, (3) career and technical education, and (4) reinvesting $1.4 billion of the savings into promoting his top priority: School choice, including $250 million for vouchers to help students attend private and religious schools.

The administration is also seeking far-reaching changes to student aid programs, including elimination of subsidized loans and public service loan forgiveness and a halving of the federal work-study program that helps college students earn money to support themselves while in school.

In her opening remarks Wednesday, DeVos said that while the size of the proposed cuts to K-12 and student financial programs “may sound alarming for some,” the president’s budget proposal reflects a push to return more decision-making power to states and more educational choice to parents.

“We cannot allow any parent to feel as if their child is trapped in a school that is not meeting their needs,” DeVos said.

Democrats predictably attacked the administration’s budget proposal as an effort to undermine public schools and low-income students’ ability to attend college.

This woman in this job is awful and cannot be stated any plainer than that.

Thanks for stopping by.