CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: No Real Role for Feds

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: No Real Role for Feds:

DeVos: No Real Role for Feds

At Axios (the new "media company" from two former Politico honchos), Johnathan Swan (formerly of The Hill) has a quick moment with Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. She uses the opportunity for a bit of a do-over on her confirmation hearing, but it's her thoughts on the federal role in education that are most striking.

Among the things that "Betsy DeVos wishes she had said at her confirmation hearing"

* She would have come up with a better illustration than a grizzly bear. "It was a valid illustration<' she says. But it probably "wasn't the best illustration I could have given."

* Everybody should have to follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Totally. She has "so much compassion for families that have to avail themselves of that law."

* She's apparently okay with her none-answers on equal accountability for all schools that receive federal funding, because that's a concept "with which she'll never agree."

Some other nuggets from the interview include her surprise at getting the call (actually an e-mail from someone with whom she's "worked for a number of years."-- my money is still on Mike Pence). Trump got her excited about the job. She'll consider the department successful if they can get ESSA successfully implemented. She looks to "slim down the department."

What changes does she expect in her tenure? No surprise here-- more charter schools, more private schools, more virtual schools, more schools of "any kind that haven't been invented yet." Left unsaid but clearly implied-- fewer public schools.

The big question comes in big bold letters:

In her ideal world, the federal government has any a role in education?

The answer gets even bigger bolder print, because somebody understands that it's key:CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos: No Real Role for Feds: