American Federation of Teachers: Three Years of Betsy DeVos Has Been Bad for Education
In this op-ed, members of the American Federation of Teachers explain how their union views the tenure of Education Secretary Besty DeVos on the anniversary of her 2017 confirmation.
Betsy DeVos has been the Secretary of Education for three years, making her one of President Donald Trump’s longest-serving Cabinet members (no small feat in a cabinet with such high turnover). Who can forget her infamous Senate confirmation hearing, where she talked about grizzly bears and was confused about the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, which helps special education students, or when Vice President Mike Pence cast a tiebreaking vote to confirm her appointment after she got more “no” votes than any education secretary nominee ever? How the time flies!
But in three short years, the damage she’s done is already legendary. Since her confirmation, DeVos has waged a full-blown crusade against the students and communities that her office should be serving. She has used her position as education secretary to pursue her own political agenda — protecting corporate interests at the expense of the very schools, students and educators she was appointed to protect. Her tenure is marked by repeated efforts to take away rights from teachers, protections from students, and resources from public schools; her pattern of malpractice has put the future of public education and higher education at risk.
Here are a few of the ways we’ve seen DeVos hurt students, educators, and communities during her three years in office so far:
1. She's tried to cut school programs that actually help kids.
DeVos has actively pushed for slashing the Department of Education’s budget by $9 billion. Through her tenure, she, at various times, has proposed cuts to funding for civil rights investigations, after-school and school lunch programs, and even the Special Olympics.
For three straight years, DeVos and Trump have proposed eliminating the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, which provides high-quality after-school programs to students nationwide.
2. Under her watch, the administration has rolled back rules to protect women, LGBTQ students, and students of color.
The Trump administration cut protections for transgender students during DeVos’s first month in office. She has made it harder for victims of sexual harassment and assault to seek justice by changing campus sexual assault polices, CONTINUE READING: American Federation of Teachers: Three Years of Betsy DeVos Has Been Bad for Education | Teen Vogue
