In First Week on the Job, DeVos Shows She Likes Choice, Doesn’t Understand Public Education
The irony is stunning. Although Donald Trump was sometimes called a populist during the presidential campaign, his domestic policy agenda features cutting taxes for the rich and cutting back on the policies and institutions that serve the rest of us. Despite that traditional public schools—the schools that serve 90 percent of America’s 50 million children and adolescents— are the quintessential institution of the 99 Percent, neither President Trump nor his Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos seems to know or care very much about public education. Neither one ever attended a public school; both educated their children in private schools. DeVos is a certified member of the One Percent, and President Trump claims to be a One Percenter, although he has not released his tax returns to prove it. For years now mega-philanthropists have been prescribing education policy, and hedge funders and far-right philanthropists like Betsy DeVos herself have been paying the lobbyists. One Percenters have been driving public policy about the public schools with which they have little experience. BetsyDeVos, our new education secretary, is an extreme case of this trend.
Just as many predicted during her confirmation hearing, last week Betsy DeVos began her first days on the job demonstrating that she has really only one interest and one priority: expanding school choice. She delivered speeches and granted interviews last week. While her comments might seem to be merely platitudes supporting children and education, they all In First Week on the Job, DeVos Shows She Likes Choice, Doesn’t Understand Public Education | janresseger: