Hip-hop group: Betsy DeVos is bad for the inner cities
Washington (CNN)The Black Opera has a message for new Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos: There should be no poor schools.
"We've seen what's going on with DeVos right now and what she stands for as far as education is definitely not going to be a positive for the inner cities," Jamall Bufford, a member of the hip-hop duo, told CNN. "We need money to go into these public schools and not more money taken away."
DeVos, an advocate for school choice, believes that parents -- not the government -- should be able to choose where to send their children to school, but public school advocates fear DeVos will steer funds away from public education.
"If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools," DeVos said during her confirmation hearing last month. "But, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child — perhaps they have a special need that is going unmet — we should support a parent's right to enroll their child in a high quality alternative."
CNN has reached out to the Department of Education for comment and have not yet received a response.
Protesters briefly blocked DeVos as she tried to enter Jefferson Middle School Academy, a public school in southwest Washington, DC, on Friday morning before subsequently entering to meet with students and faculty.
The group's members, Bufford and Magestik Legend, grew up in Michigan — the former in the suburb of Ann Arbor and the latter in downtown Detroit, but their public school experiences were vastly different.Hip-hop group: DeVos is bad for the inner cities - CNNPolitics.com: