7 Reasons to Oppose Betsy DeVos
GOP megadonor, charter school proponent, and the worst possible choice for Secretary of Education
By Cathy Sun
The Progressive Teen Opinion Editor
Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick for the Secretary of Education, is scheduled to face a committee vote on Tuesday, January 31st. Besides being astoundingly unqualified for the position she is nominated for, DeVos is many other things, including unqualified, unqualified, and dare I say, unqualified. Here is the simple, inexhaustible list of reasons of why the High School Democrats of America opposes DeVos as the next head of the U.S. Department of Education.
1. She has absolutely no experience with the public school system.
Surprise? She has never attended a public school, never sent a child to a public school, never taken out a student loan, never worked for a school district, never studied education or teaching. Very reassuring for the state of public schools in America.
2. She wants to divert money spent on public education to private schools.
DeVos supports the unlimited, unregulated growth of charter schools and the elevation for-profit schools. When a significant portion of the country has no access to private school options, this plan will cause significantly less money for education to flow to many areas, in districts that can hardly afford to lose funding. During her hearing, she refused to pledge to maintain public funding for public schools.
3. She cited grizzly bear attacks as the rationale for not removing guns from public schools.
Yes, when one person is killed by bears every year on average, while more than 33,000 are fatally shot, grizzly bears are the greatest threat to the safety of our students.
4. She evaded commitments to the education of students with disabilities in schools that receive federal funding.
In fact, she displayed at best confusion and at worst the complete lack of knowledge about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a key federal law that governs how states and public agencies provide services to millions of American students. At one point, she suggested that this federal law could be left to states.
5. She has claimed that she wants to “advance God’s kingdom” through school reform.
That’s an immediate red flag for religious indoctrination, which should be nowhere near public schools. Her donation record shows an overwhelming emphasis on funding Christian schools and evangelical missions. The separation of church and state in public high schools is a line that cannot be blurred.
6. She comes from a family of billionaire GOP donors who pays-to-play.
DeVos’s family has given almost $1 million to more than 20 senators who will vote on her confirmation. She herself has donated millions to politicians so that she can lobby them to support money vouchers for conservative religious schools with zero strings attached. In an op-ed written in 1997, she acknowledged that she expected to gain influence for monetary contributions. “I have decided to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence,” she wrote. “Now I simply concede the point. They are right.”
7. She has no idea what she’s doing.
Her hearing was, in a nutshell, an embarrassing disaster. From muddling the distinction between measures of student learning to overestimating by 800% the increase in student debt over the last eight years, DeVos has shown America exactly how little she really knows about being the Secretary of Education.
In short, DeVos should never touch the U.S. Department of Education, much less lead it. Pass this list of disqualifications along to anyone who needs a refresher on exactly why DeVos cannot be appointed, and call your Senator urging them to vote ‘no’ on her confirmation.
