Hey Buzzfeed, DeVos Is Not Anti-Common Core
Buzzfeed reports that Donald Trump has narrowed his choices down to Betsy DeVos and Michelle Rhee whom he met with over the weekend.
This is based on an anonymous source who says he or she is familiar with the search process. I have my doubts. The Washington Post indicates the time table is not known, and for now, I agree with that. I have found that most people who talk to the press anonymously tend to do so out of self-importance. Not saying anonymous leaks are always wrong, but they are not always right either. Often times the person giving the information is not nearly as close to the process as they let on.
Buzzfeed’s Molly Hensley-Clancey’s article, however, is more opinion than news and she doesn’t have her facts straight. She says Michelle Rhee is the “f_k you candidate for teacher’s unions” while Betsy DeVos is the more “conventional choice.”
They both suck, but in different ways, and what teacher’s unions think is irrelevant to me.
Here is what Molly Hensley-Clancey said about the “conventional choice” of DeVos:
DeVos is in most ways a conventional choice for the position: a longtime advocate of alternatives to the public school system, with close ties to many on Capitol Hill, she is closely aligned to Republican education officials like Sen. Lamar Alexander and serves on the board of Jeb Bush’s education foundation. She has also proclaimed herself an opponent of the Common Core education initiative, which Trump often denounced at his rallies with promises of a “repeal,” though she initially supported the standards.
Yes she is very much part of the Republican education establishment, but where Hensley-Clancey got the idea that she proclaimed herself an opponent of the Common Core education initiative is beyond me.
Betsy DeVos through the Great Lakes Education Project and Michigan Freedom Fund tried to influence Michigan’s Republican primaries. Karen Braun at Stop Common Core in Michigan wrote:
GLEP is a strong supporter of the Common Core and its continued implementation in Michigan. They are part of the Michigan Coalition for High Student Standards which opposes SB 826 to Repeal and Replace Common Core, science, social studies, and aligned assessments with pre-common core Massachusetts standards. Stop Common Core in Michigan believes there is a high correlation between candidates who accept the GLEP endorsement and their future votes on legislation.GLEP claims NOT to have a litmus test on Common Core. This allows candidates to say they are against common core and still gain the endorsement of GLEP. But DeVos is a champion for “school choice” while at the same time continuing the implementation of common national standards. The DeVos definition of “school choice” is the freedom to choose which common core school will track your child from cradle-to-career (P20). All Michigan charters must use common national standards. That’s NOT true choice.Like Bill Gates, Betsy DeVos has some money and has some things she’d like to see different. Like all good investors, DeVos likely expects a return on her investment. And if you don’t play the game under their rules and vote the way you want her to vote, you may find yourself challenged the next time you run for office.
DeVos’ involvement with GLEP which supports Common Core and with the Foundation for Excellence in Education should make any denunciation of Common Core from DeVos’ lips suspect.Hey Buzzfeed, DeVos Is Not Anti-Common Core | Truth in American Education:
