Where Did Betsy DeVos Come From?
And What is She Doing?
Americans were recently reminded that Betsy DeVos is our Education Secretary when her department announced a budget proposal that cut federal funding for the Special Olympics organization. Questioned by the House Appropriations Committee, she seemed unable to explain or even unaware of the details of the budget. Since her appointment, DeVos has been mocked and criticized for words and actions that suggest incompetence, inexperience, and even corruption. It is only natural to wonder, just where did Betsy DeVos come from and what is she doing?
United States Secretary of Education is the first government position DeVos has held, despite having worked in the political universe for nearly 40 years. During the bulk of that time, she was an operative and sometimes leader of the Michigan Republican Party, and was especially effective at fundraising. DeVos is also a notable GOP donor, ironically not contributing to Trump in the 2016 presidential race, but to Carly Fiorina, Jeb Bush, and toward the end of the primaries, Marco Rubio.
With education reform as a common theme, Betsy DeVos has chaired and worked on the boards of various foundations, think-tanks, and political action committees. She served as chair of the board at the Action Institute, which may not be as exciting as its name suggests, but has a focus on religion and the free market being (somehow) essential to education practices. Speaking to at least the “free market” component, note that in 2016 the institute appeared to endorse child labor.
So how much does this history have to do with President Trump appointing DeVos to the highest authority on education in the U.S.? Potentially almost nothing, because she and her family are fabulously wealthy and exceedingly well-connected.
The Secretary’s brother Eric Prince, it’s been often mentioned, is the founder of Blackwater USA. Blackwater(now known as Academi) is a private military/security company noteworthy for numerous U.S. government and military contracts and especially its involvement in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. In 2007, Blackwater employees were responsible for the deaths of 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad, and it is widely suggested that during the Bush Jr. presidency the organization had more decision-making involvement in military action than Congress.
Perhaps the most intriguing and potentially controversial business related to the DeVos family is Neurocore. Secretary DeVos and her husband have over $5 million invested in the company, which claims its methods can “re-train” the mind to reverse conditions including attention deficit disorder, depression, and even autism. Their patented techniques are neurofeedback-based and some consist of watching regular television shows while wired to sensors that resize the video display depending on various measurements.
In 2017, the National Advertising Division recommended that Neurocore discontinue advertising that contains multiple false claims about their treatment outcomes. Regardless of this, the DeVos family’s financial involvement with a company that claims to change children’s brain function could easily be viewed as a conflict of interest with the Education Secretary position.
What Does Betsy DeVos Want?
Secretary DeVos has long been an advocate of charter schools or schools that regulate themselves independently and operate as private schools while receiving government funding as public schools would. Founding the “school-choice” advocacy group American Federation for Children and in her capacity at the Michigan Republican Convention, she drove an effort to increase the number of charter schools across Michigan.
Becoming legal in 1994, charter schools established in Michigan have been encumbered with a variety of problems ranging from missing money to diminished student performance. Since 1995, over 200 have closed and there are roughly 300 open at present in the state. Tests conducted by the National Assessment of Education Progress have shown Michigan student proficiency growing more slowly than in any other state, annually, since 2003.
Southwest Detroit Community School, a small charter school founded in 2013, has employed five principals in the last five years and may be on the verge of closing as families flee. The over 200 charter schools that have closed down since 1995 have disrupted the education of nearly 25,000 students, a majority of whom are black.
What is Betsy DeVos Doing?
Mercifully, the 2020 Education Department budget will continue to fund the Special Olympics after a completely un-orchestrated last-minute save by President Trump. Further painful cuts include Title IV funding, which is allocated to mental health and school safety among other sectors, adding up to a total $6.7 billion spending decrease.
Under questioning from Congress, DeVos had difficulty explaining her department’s motivations behind the budget, but issued a response in the following days stating that “It is unacceptable, shameful and counterproductive that the media and some members of Congress have spun up falsehoods and fully misrepresented the facts.”
While the Secretary’s motives seem evident, her efficacy and/or potential for destruction need more time to become clear and having had little or no conflict with the President, she may hold the position for quite some time.
© 2019; Matt Warrener. All Rights Reserved
