Betsy DeVos Is Visiting A Public School This Week With One Of Her Famous Foes
She and Randi Weingarten will be setting aside their differences on a trip to Ohio.
When President Donald Trump first nominated Betsy DeVos for U.S. secretary of education in November, labor leader Randi Weingarten did not mince words.
“The president-elect, in his selection of Betsy DeVos, has chosen the most ideological, anti-public education nominee put forward since President Carter created a Cabinet-level Department of Education,” stated Weingarten, who is president of the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s second-largest teachers union. “DeVos is everything Donald Trump said is wrong in America.”
But on Thursday, DeVos and Weingarten are attempting to find common ground by visiting a public school together. In February, shortly after DeVos was confirmed, the pair decided they would travel to a school of the other’s choice.
The goal, according to the American Federation of Teachers, is to show DeVos the possibilities of great public schools, as opposed to charter schools and private schools. DeVos also invited Weingarten to visit a school with her ― such as a charter school ― although such a visit has not yet been announced.
The pair will be touring Van Wert City Schools, a public school district in Ohio. While the school district has a mixed academic record, it has deeply invested in strategies that engage community members and serve the social and emotional needs of children. It is an example of a school district that would be hurt by the passage of Trump’s proposed education budget, which slashes federal funding for education by $9 billion, according to an op-ed Weingarten wrote in a local Ohio outlet, the Times Bulletin Media.
“When the federal budget gets cut and the state can’t Betsy DeVos Is Visiting A Public School This Week With One Of Her Famous Foes | The Huffington Post:
