Betsy DeVos paid for a Grand Rapids school superintendent to support her at her Senate confirmation in Washington, DC
Betsy DeVos, Pr*sident Donald Trump’s pick to be his Secretary of Education, is rightfully being exposed nationally for her anti-public education agenda. As I and Mitchell Robinson have been explaining repeatedly, Betsy DeVos isn’t just unqualified, she’s DANGEROUS.
She’s never attended a public school.
She’s never sent her children to a public school.
She’s never taught in ANY school.
She’s funded efforts disgustingly and euphemistically called “School Choice” that are little more than charades designed to destroy our public school system in order to promote private, for-profit charter schools and religious schools to siphon tax dollars into the bank accounts of “education” corporations and religious groups.
She and her family have even given millions and millions of dollars to Republicans over the years, some of whom will be voting on her confirmation. She herself concedes that it might be as much as $200 million. (She neglected to mention on her financial disclosure to the US Senate for her confirmation hearing that she had given over $100,000 to an anti-union group called Protecting Michigan Taxpayers.)
The scope of her financial largesse to Republicans and anti-public education groups is breathtaking. NOTE: See update below.
Last night, WOOD-TV dropped another bombshell: Betsy DeVos’s anti-public schools group American Federation for Children agreed to give an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to Grand Rapids Schools superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal along with her spokesman, John Helmholdt. The purpose? To park Weatherall Neal in front of Senators at DeVos’s confirmation hearing to praise the billionaire and encourage them to approve her confirmation:
Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal recently broke from the education crowd when she supported President Donald Trump’s nomination of West Michigan philanthropist and activist Betsy DeVos for secretary of education.Now, emails and correspondence obtained by Target 8 show how far the superintendent planned to go to show her support.The correspondence shows plans for a trip to DeVos’ confirmation hearing in Washington, D.C., paid for by DeVos’ nonprofit, American Federation for Children. It also included “talking points” provided by the organization. […]DeVos’ American Federation for Children took the superintendent up on her offer, offering to send Weatherall Neal and her spokesman, John Helmholdt, to D.C. — all expenses paid — for the Jan. 11 confirmation hearing.“Thank you for agreeing to attend Secretary of Education-designate Betsy DeVos’s hearing,” the federation wrote to the superintendent.The email included a background summary of DeVos, her experience and “responses toBetsy DeVos paid for a Grand Rapids school superintendent to support her at her Senate confirmation in Washington, DC | Eclectablog: