Randi Weingarten on DeVos confirmation: 'A sad day for children' | TheHill

Teachers union on DeVos confirmation: 'A sad day for children' | TheHill:

Teachers union on DeVos confirmation: 'A sad day for children'

The president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is blasting Tuesday's Senate vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of Education, saying it is a “sad day for children."

“If she wants to work with the educators who work hard every single day—in districts as diverse as McDowell County, W.Va., Detroit, and Scarsdale, N.Y.—to provide children the opportunities they deserve, we renew our invitation to have her visit America’s public schools and see the strategies that work for kids,” Randi Weingarten said in a statement after the vote.

“But it’s more likely we’ll now hear the same trashing of public schools that the disrupters, the privatizers and the austerity hawks have used for the last two decades. That makes this a sad day for children.”

The Senate earlier confirmed DeVos to helm the Education Department with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Pence, a first for a Cabinet nominee.

Weingarten, along with other major teachers unions, has been a vocal opponent of DeVos’s nomination, arguing that she lacks public school experience. She said Tuesday that one bright spot of DeVos’s confirmation is that the public has become more vocal about education and will serve as “a check and balance."

“DeVos’ confirmation battle has a major silver lining: The public in public Teachers union on DeVos confirmation: 'A sad day for children' | TheHill: