Betsy DeVos Can Expand Education Choice Without Harming Private Schools | Knowledge Bank | US News

Betsy DeVos Can Expand Education Choice Without Harming Private Schools | Knowledge Bank | US News:

Betsy DeVos Can Expand Education Choice Without Harming Private Schools

Last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos faced questions from the Senate Appropriations subcommittee regarding the Trump administration's education budget. It was not an easy day for her, as senators from both parties took issue with some of the suggested cuts. Republican Chairman Roy Blunt, R-Miss., bluntly called it "a difficult budget request to defend."

Perhaps the most controversial proposal in the budget was the $250 million increase in Department of Education funding to support private school choice. This is a departure from current practices: To date, private school choice programs have all been state-run, with the exception of Washington, D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarship program. By all appearances, these funds would involve the Department of Education directing a federal school choice program that would extend private options to families that are unsatisfied with their public options but unable to afford private school tuition. But, with no specifics about how the department would run the program, lawmakers focused on whether the secretary would require participating private schools to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ students or follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the primary federal education law governing students with disabilities.

DeVos was not particularly forthcoming, repeatedly responding to both lines of questioning by saying, "Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law." Attempts to get her to elaborate on what that would require were unsuccessful.

As I see it, DeVos is walking a fine line here in wanting to expand parent's access to private school choice, properly enforce federal law and avoid undue regulation of private Betsy DeVos Can Expand Education Choice Without Harming Private Schools | Knowledge Bank | US News:

 

How To Avoid School Choice Accountability | HuffPost

How To Avoid School Choice Accountability | HuffPost:

How To Avoid School Choice Accountability

After Betsy DeVos’s last round of Congressional obfuscation testimony, many folks are asking the same question as EdWeek ― “When Do Voucher Programs Allow Private Schools To Discriminate Against Students?” DeVos answered variations on the question with repetitions of one answer:

Schools that receive federal funds must follow federal law, period.

I don’t have a direct line to DeVos’s brain, so I can’t discern for certain what she’s thinking, but I do know a way to keep funneling tax dollars to voucher programs and let those voucher schools discriminate in any and all ways they wish to, all without violating the above quote.

In Pennsylvania, we call them Educational Improvement Tax Credits, and they work like this (beware: oversimplification in the service of clarity dead ahead). My corporation has a tax bill of $1,000 in taxes that would ordinarily go to public education. But instead of sending the taxes to the state capital, I send $900 to Nifty Educational Privatey Organization. I get credit for paying $900 of my taxes, and those dollars go straight to NEPO, a group that distributes “scholarships” (aka “vouchers”) to students who want to attend private schools. Meanwhile, the local public school system receives $900 fewer taxpayer dollars.

But notice― the $900 from GreeneCorps never touched the government’s hands, so technically, those are not “government” funds.

In Arizona this dodge is called a “tax credit voucher” program, and it has provided new How To Avoid School Choice Accountability | HuffPost:

 

Money for Nothin’ – Live Long and Prosper

Money for Nothin’ – Live Long and Prosper:

Money for Nothin’

For the past two decades Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation have been dropping millions of dollars into education schemes the billionaire was sure would transform America’s schools. Gates tried small schools, teacher incentives, and the Common Core to try to influence the achievement of public schools – all to no avail. (Further reading: Anthony Cody’s, The Educator and the Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation)

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation has invested millions of dollars into training managers to run school systems like businesses. They’ve put money into large scale teacher merit-pay experiments in school districts. They’ve supported legislation, including the so-called “Parent Trigger” which would allow a majority of a schools current parents to transfer a community owned public school to a for-profit charter company.

The Walton Family Foundation, run by America’s wealthiest family, has invested millions of dollars in the privatization of public education. They have supported the creation and expansion of voucher programs in Indiana and other states.

The attempts to improve America’s education by billionaires, none of whom have any training in education, have several things in common.

First, none of the schemes have been successful enough, or been replicable on a large enough scale to improve the country’s public education system.

Second, the money used to fund the projects hasn’t been sustainable. Some programs have Money for Nothin’ – Live Long and Prosper:

 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017: District VII

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017: District VII:

Seattle School Board Elections 2017: District VII

 Please note this thread where I outline my guidelines for the interviews.


District VII
Currently Director Betty Patu represents this region.  She is running to retain her seat and has two challengers.

- Tony Hemphill.  He is a chiropractor who also has an MBA and graduated from Garfield in 1991.
   
- Chelsea Byers.  From her work bio:
She spent several years as a Teach For America math teacher in Oakland, CA. After that, she went to England to earn a masters in quantitative analysis from the London School of Economics, where she also helped to train teachers and develop curriculum for a flagship outreach program at University College London. She then followed this line of work to Hong Kong and Italy. Now at General Assembly, Chelsea manages training and development for instructors and leads a team of instructional coaches.

She currently works for a local company, Galvanize, which provides tech training services.


Only Patu and Byers are registered at the PDC; neither has any contributions to date.  I only interviewed Patu and Byers.  I did have a phone interview set up with Hemphill but he was not available and did not contact me back as to why he was not available.

This is the Board race with the fewest candidates and so I believe it is Patu and Byers who are the favorites to move forward out of the primary (unless Hemphill decides to have more of a presence in the race and soon).

I am endorsing Betty Patu to keep her seat in District VII.

Patu is the blunt sage we need.  She continues to show energy and zest for the work despite eight long years on the Board (which should be enough to wear anyone down but not her).  Her dedication to the region is legend. 

Not only has she shown dedication to the work, she has the institutional memory that is so important in a district that has frequent JSCEE staff movement. (And her memory is great - I cannot believe the things she can readily date and then bring out in discussions).  The district will already have Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board Elections 2017: District VII:

NEPC Review: Hidden Money: The Outsized Role of Parent Contributions in School Finance | National Education Policy Center

NEPC Review: Hidden Money: The Outsized Role of Parent Contributions in School Finance | National Education Policy Center:

NEPC Review: Hidden Money: The Outsized Role of Parent Contributions in School Finance

Press ReleaseLearn More:NEPC Resources on School Finance and Funding

While inequalities in school funding resulting from state and local policies have long been a source of concern to education researchers and policymakers, a report from the Center for American Progress examines a source of educational inequality that receives less attention: private fundraising by parents. It focuses on the 50 Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) that raised the most money in 2013-2014, with two main findings. First, the PTAs raising large amounts were located in schools and districts with low rates of student poverty. Second, while a PTA in a high-poverty community may raise only a few hundred dollars, PTAs in this sample raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. Using case studies, the report considers district regulation of private fundraising. This review concludes that the report’s findings about the scope and beneficiaries of private fundraising are credible and important—showing the impact successful PTAs can have. However, the focus on a small number of schools and districts, a lack of attention to school and community context, and problems with the case study design limit the report’s overall relevance. In addition, it is important to note that most funding inequalities arise at the state level; funds raised by parents represent only a minute portion of overall school spending. Nevertheless, the report’s recommendations, especially in support of equity grants, will be useful to district-level policymakers.

Think Tank Review

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NEPC Review: Hidden Money: The Outsized Role of Parent Contributions in School Finance | National Education Policy Center:

Gov. Scott to sign controversial education bill today in Orlando - Orlando Sentinel

Gov. Scott to sign controversial education bill today in Orlando - Orlando Sentinel:

Gov. Scott to sign controversial education bill today in Orlando

Gov. Rick Scott today will sign a fiercely controversial education bill at a ceremony at an Orlando Catholic school, his office announced this morning.

The bill (HB 7069) is a nearly 300-page document that tackles multiple education issues, from recess to teachers bonuses to testing. The bill’s backers call it a game changer for public education while its critics say it is manipulative and detrimental.

Its provisions related to charter schools — privately run public institutions — have prompted some of the most controversy, with many educators and school advocates urging Scott to veto the bill because they believe it will reduce funding for traditional public schools.

A group of Orange County teachers and parents planned a rally this afternoon outside the school district’s headquarters to urge Scott to veto the measure. That rally is scheduled for 12:30.p.m.

Scott is to sign the bill at 3:45 p.m. at Morning Star Catholic School in Orlando. Morning Star is the Catholic Diocese’s school for children with special needs.

A section of the bill expands money for Gardiner Scholarships, which provide money to children with significant disabilities that can be used for private school tuition.

Starkly divergent views of the bill were obvious as soon as the news that Scott would sign the bill broke this morning.

“Today is very exciting day for Students and Parents all across FL!” wrote Rep. Manny Diaz Jr., R-Hialeah, on Twitter. He is a a key education leader in the House.

But the advocacy group Minimize Testing, based in the Florida Keys, tweeted, “6/15/2017 marks the beginning of the end of trad public education in Florida. We will remember today and those who voted for this #7069.”

Scott’s signing of the bill will be a victory for Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran. The Land O’ Lakes Republican pushed the legislation, particularly its “schools of hope” provision that aims to lure high-performing charter schools to neighborhoods where students in traditional public schools are struggling.

Corcoran and Scott feuded for much of this year, mostly about funding for tourism marking and job incentive programs. But in recent weeks they worked out a deal to restore funding to those programs, as Scott wanted, so many Tallahassee observers then predicted Scott would sign HB 7069, as Corcoran desired.

Corcoran said the “schools of hope” provision will entice top-notch charter schools to open near traditional public schools with poor grades on the state’s A-to-F school report card, giving students more options.

District administrators fear other sections of the legislation, particularly those that will Gov. Scott to sign controversial education bill today in Orlando - Orlando Sentinel:

 

Jeff Bryant Reports: Are ‘Nonprofit’ Charter Schools A Distinction Without A Difference?

Are ‘Nonprofit’ Charter Schools A Distinction Without A Difference?:

Are ‘Nonprofit’ Charter Schools A Distinction Without A Difference?

Are ‘Nonprofit’ Charter Schools A Distinction Without A Difference?

By Jeff Bryant

“The ‘Trump-DeVos team’ has ‘split the bipartisan alliance that has helped vouchers and charters’ … What this means to the average citizen is that she should expect to hear lots more rhetoric about the ‘good kind’ of charter school versus the ‘not so good’ kind of charter school … [A] popular tactic for separating ‘good’ charters from the pack of awfulness Trump and DeVos want to unleash is to hold a preference for ‘nonprofit’ charter schools over the profit-making variety … Does it make any difference what their tax status is?”
Read more …

NEWS AND VIEWS

A Powerful Pairing: Pre-K Boosts Future Incomes And Reduces Risk Of Jail, Especially When Schools Spend More

Chalkbeat

“Students benefit from both well-funded schools and access to early childhood education … Head Start had greater long-run benefits for students whose K-12 schools were better resourced … The whole of those two policies in tandem is greater than the sum of their parts … The effect of Head Start multiplies when students later attend relatively well funded schools: in that case, adult earnings increased 5.6% and risk of incarceration dropped 2.2 percentage points.”
Read more …

Data Dive: Devices And Software Flooding Into Classrooms – More Access Hasn’t Meant Better Use

Education Week

“Students report using computers in school most often for activities that involve rote practice … The percent of teachers who say they’ve received training on how to effectively use such technology has remained flat, with a persistent divide between high- and low-poverty schools … 4th graders report using classroom computers for rote activities … far more frequently than for activities that require critical thinking … The gap between active and passive use has grown … Just 61% of 4th grade reading teachers said that they had received training on how to integrate technology into their classroom instruction.”
Read more …

DeVos Is Questioned About Campaign To Influence Climate Change Education

Frontline

“Democratic senators are sharply criticizing a conservative think tank’s efforts to bring climate change skepticism into the nation’s public schools … and demanding to know whether federal education officials have been in contact with the group … The senators asked DeVos whether any Education Department officials have had contact with individuals associated with the Heartland Institute “on climate, science, or science education issues,” and whether any informational resources put out by the department have been created in collaboration with Heartland.”
Read more …

How Teachers’ Stress Affects Students: A Research Roundup

Education Week

“New research is helping to clarify how teachers become chronically stressed, and how it can affect their students’ well-being and achievement … Teachers who reported higher levels of burnout had students with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol each morning, suggesting classroom tensions could be ‘contagious’… [Teachers] who showed higher levels of stress at the beginning of the year displayed fewer effective teaching strategies over the rest of the school year … So what makes a classroom normal for one teacher and stressful to another? … The answer depends on whether teachers feel they have the cognitive and other resources to meet their students’ needs.”
Read more …

A Long Overdue Civil Right To Literacy

The Baltimore Sun

“A class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Michigan claims that the state of Michigan is denying students in the Detroit public schools their constitutional right to learn to read … An allied legal attack has just been launched in Berkeley, CA … Disability rights lawyers brought suit in federal court alleging the school district’s failure to teach children with reading disorders, such as dyslexia, to learn to read violated a right guaranteed under the federal law governing students with disabilities … Future generations will look back and say, as was said about Brown v. Board of Education, ‘What took us so long?'”
Read more …

Are ‘Nonprofit’ Charter Schools A Distinction Without A Difference?:

John Thompson: Challenges ahead for funding schools with MAPS - NonDoc

Challenges ahead for funding schools with MAPS - NonDoc:

Challenges ahead for funding schools with MAPS

During Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 2 OKC Councilman Ed Shadid pushed the City Council to engage in a “desperate act for a desperate time” and devote one quarter of a temporary MAPS penny sales tax to curb the exodus of teachers from the city’s schools. Another alternative, Shadid said, would be a temporary income tax to pay teachers more so they will “hang on for one more year.”

In arguing for the tax to help save our schools, Shadid noted the Brookings Institute’s warning that we are “running out of time.” Geez, he’s right: School support staff are paid as little as $13,000 per year.

‘Please be our knights in shining armor’

Notably, a diverse array of citizens appealed to the city to, “Please be our knights in shining armor.” As numerous teachers, parents and a medical professional warned the council during the meeting, we aren’t just facing an “unbelievable exodus of teachers.” Even a realtor, who cares enough to serve on the Eugene Fields advisory board even before her child is old enough to attend the neighborhood elementary school, expressed the fear she’ll have to join the exodus of families to the exurbs.

OKCPS School Board Chair Paula Lewis told the council the state’s per-student aid is only half the national average — only $12 per child per day. Lewis said that the purpose of the temporary $25 million tax is to “stop the bleeding.” It makes no sense, she said, to pave a street alongside a school slated for closure for budgetary reasons.

Rev. Lori Walke started her comment by “respectfully” requesting consideration of a taxChallenges ahead for funding schools with MAPS - NonDoc: 

Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government - ProPublica

Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government - ProPublica:

Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government

Previously unannounced directives will limit the Department of Justice’s use of a storied civil rights enforcement tool, and loosen the Department of Education’s requirements on investigations.

For decades, the Department of Justice has used court-enforced agreements to protect civil rights, successfully desegregating school systems, reforming police departments, ensuring access for the disabled and defending the religious.

Now, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the DOJ appears to be turning away from this storied tool, called consent decrees. Top officials in the DOJ civil rights division have issued verbal instructions through the ranks to seek settlements without consent decrees — which would result in no continuing court oversight.

The move is just one part of a move by the Trump administration to limit federal civil rights enforcement. Other departments have scaled back the power of their internal divisions that monitor such abuses. In a previously unreported development, the Education Department last week reversed an Obama-era reform that broadened the agency’s approach to protecting rights of students. The Labor Department and the Environmental Protection Agency have also announced sweeping cuts to their enforcement.

“At best, this administration believes that civil rights enforcement is superfluous and can be easily cut. At worst, it really is part of a systematic agenda to roll back civil rights,” said Vanita Gupta, the former acting head of the DOJ’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama.

Consent decrees have not been abandoned entirely by the DOJ, a person with knowledge of the instructions said. Instead, there is a presumption against their use — attorneys should default to using settlements without court oversight unless there is an unavoidable reason for a consent decree. The instructions came from the civil rights division’s office of acting Assistant Attorney General Tom Wheeler and Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Gore. There is no written policy guidance.

Devin O’Malley, a spokesperson for the DOJ, declined to comment for this story.

Consent decrees can be a powerful tool, and spell out specific steps that must be taken to remedy the harm. These are agreed to by both parties and signed off on by a judge, whom the parties can appear before again if the terms are not being met. Though critics say the Trump Administration Quietly Rolls Back Civil Rights Efforts Across Federal Government - ProPublica:

Budget would soften anti-union case before Supreme Court :: SI&A Cabinet Report

Budget would soften anti-union case before Supreme Court :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Budget would soften anti-union case before Supreme Court

(Calif.) As part of the budget deal set for approval in the Legislature today, lawmakers have included a provision aimed at protecting public employee unions from a likely ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court striking down mandatory dues.

Otherwise, there are few surprises in the 2017-18 spending bill from the proposal that Gov. Jerry Brown released last month.

For schools, that means $74.5 billion in overall Proposition 98 funding, of which, $57.2 billion is earmarked under the Local Control Funding Formula for next year.

One key change from the governor’s May revise is the $1 billion in one-time discretionary money Brown wanted to delay giving schools until spring of 2019—now will come in the spring of 2018, although the allotment has been trimmed to $876 million.

“This budget keeps California on a sound fiscal path and continues to support struggling families and make investments in our schools,” Brown said in a statement.

Lawmakers are expected to quickly pass the budget bills well ahead of the midnight deadline.

One of the bills that appear to be part of the package would require state and local government agencies as well as school districts to negotiate terms with employee unions for access to new employee orientations.

Although the final language of that bill had not been publicly released by press time, sources said union orientation access is part of the budget agreement.

The proposal comes just a few days after a suit out of Illinois arrived before the U.S. Supreme Court that challenges requirements in 20 states–including California—on public employees to contribute to collective bargaining activities.

A similar suit was set to go before the court last spring—Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association—but ended up being sidetracked with the death of Justice Anton Scalia. With the court once again at full-strength with the appointment of another conservative, Justice Neil Gorsuch, labor leaders are bracing for an unwelcome ruling.

Although all public employee unions have a stake in the court case, it is especially critical for the CTA, which has wielded significant power in Sacramento for decades.

Facing the same threat last summer, the California Labor Federation sponsored along with other unions legislation a bill that would have imposed similar mandates on public employers. That bill, AB 2835, died in the state Senate after passing out of the Assembly on a vote of 54-24.

Other highlights in the compromise budget plan:

• Provides $50 million in ongoing Proposition 98 funding for after school programs to help cover Budget would soften anti-union case before Supreme Court :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:

Charter School Founded by DeVos Family Reflects National Tensions - The New York Times

Charter School Founded by DeVos Family Reflects National Tensions - The New York Times:

Charter School Founded by DeVos Family Reflects National Tensions

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Julia Stevenson scurried through the hallway as her school day came to a close, hoping to take advantage of as much daylight as possible to complete one of the last assignments of her high school career.

“I’m flying home today,” Ms. Stevenson, 18, said with a broad smile, explaining that she was hoping for clear skies and a beautiful view of Lake Michigan on the 300-mile round trip from Gerald R. Ford International Airport to her hometown, Traverse City, Mich.

With her pilot’s license in sight, Ms. Stevenson was about to graduate from the West Michigan Aviation Academy, a public charter school here founded by Dick DeVos, the billionaire husband of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Ms. DeVos has called it an inspiration for her dogged support for school choice, a shining example of what is possible when schools are able to meet students’ unique interests and needs. On Tuesday, she told thousands of charter school advocates that her husband’s school prepared students “to contribute in significant ways to our 21st-century economy.”

But with its deep-pocketed founder, corporate sponsors and remarkable capacity to raise money, the Aviation Academy may be more an example of what education can achieve with seemingly limitless funds than a model for other schools.

Like the neighborhood public schools of Grand Rapids, the academy, on the grounds of Gerald Ford Airport, receives $7,500 per student in state funding. This helps pay for its rigorous science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, curriculum and its faculty, including the four flight instructors on staff.

But it does not pay for the school’s two airplanes; many of its science, engineering and mathematics facilities; or its distinction as the only school in the country that offers flight instruction as part of the curriculum. Students can graduate and fly a plane before they can rent a car or legally have a beer.

How? The DeVoses alone have given more than $4 million to the school. Mr. DeVos donated an airplane from his private collection. Delta Air Lines donated another.

“The concept is good. I just wish a public school would’ve thought of Charter School Founded by DeVos Family Reflects National Tensions - The New York Times:

PBS Shows Anti-Public Education Propaganda - Network For Public Education

PBS Shows Anti-Public Education Propaganda - Network For Public Education:

PBS Shows Anti-Public Education Propaganda

This month the Public Broadcasting System is showing a “documentary” that tells a one-sided story of school privatization as told by Libertarian Andrew Coulson. This three-hour broadcast, called  “School, Inc., “ airs nationwide in three PBS broadcasts.  It can be best described as anti-public education propaganda.

Write your email of protest here:

Andrew Coulson, who is now deceased, was the director of Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom from 2005 to 2015. The extremist positions of Cato include the belief that discrimination based on race, religion, gender and sexual orientation should not be outlawed because the right to discriminate is a personal freedom. They have also proposed the elimination of public education. The Cato Institute applauded the appointment of Betsy DeVos who shares their radical views.

The film was funded by extreme right-wing conservative foundations–the Rose Mary and Jack Anderson Foundation, the Prometheus Foundation and the Steve and Lana Hardy Foundation.

The Public Broadcasting System must hear from you. This cannot go unchallenged.

Join us in insisting that PBS also broadcast Diane Ravitch’s response to Education, Inc. and show the film, Backpack Full of Cash, which presents the counter-argument to Schools, Inc.

We need your help! Here is what you can do.

1. Write your email to PBS by going here. We make it simple.

2. Call PBS and register your complaint and ask that they broadcast Diane Ravitch’s response to School, Inc. and Backpack Full of Cash. Here is the number to call: 1-703-739-5000.

3. Contact your local station and ask them to do the same. If your station has not played the series, ask them not to. You can find your local station’s number here.  All PBS stations are independent.

Our democracy depends on public education and responsible, balanced journalism. Your voice must be heard. PBS cannot be allowed to become a propaganda machine for the extreme right.

Thanks for all you do.

Carol

 PBS Shows Anti-Public Education Propaganda - Network For Public Education:

Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools - The Morning Call

Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools - The Morning Call:

Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools

yber charter schools are meant to be an accessible alternative to traditional schooling, but one state senator wants to make them a privilege that can be revoked at any time.

The bill, proposed by Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, would require students who are consistently underperforming in a cyber charter school to return to a brick-and-mortar school, according to a May 31 memorandum.

The bill is in its very early stages and is far from making it to a vote, according to Argall.

"The idea came up in town hall meetings in Berks County," he said. "We did a little research, and realized there aren't currently any rules on struggling students. So how do we define failure?"

A task force would be created to do just that, according to the memorandum. It would be responsible for developing and issuing minimum achievement requirements for the state's 35,477 cyber charter school students.

There were about 1.77 million students enrolled in all types of public schools in the 2015-16 school year, the last full year of records at the state Department of Education. That total includes 132,860 charter school students, 26 percent of whom attend cyber charters.

The state already tracks the performance of cyber charters as part of the annual School Performance Profile report it issues on all public schools. A school's overall score is based in part on student test scores.

In 2015-16, the latest year available, cyber charter students in the majority of the 14 cyber charters fared worse on state math and reading tests than the statewide average of all public school students.

Cyber charters also have a significantly lower graduation rate than the statewide average, according to the state Department of Education. Cyber charters had a cumulative Pennsylvania senator wants failing students out of cyber charter schools - The Morning Call:

 

How Betsy DeVos Could Break Up The Charter School Coalition

How Betsy DeVos Could Break Up The Charter School Coalition:

How Betsy DeVos Could Break Up The Charter School Coalition

The fragile bipartisan alliance that formed around the charter school movement could fall apart in the Trump era.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made a bold choice of opening anecdote in a speech to charter school advocates on Tuesday: Shetold the story of how her family chose to forego the public education system entirely, sending her young son to a Christian private school.

DeVos spoke of the need to ensure that poor students had the ability to attend not just charter schools, but private schools, too — just as her son had done. It was a heavy allusion to the necessity of a voucher system — one that would allow families to use taxpayer money to pay for private and religious schools.

But vouchers have long been considered politically toxic for many in the charter school movement, who are already wondering how closely their schools — attended primarily by low-income, black, and Latino students — should link their fortunes to those of the Trump administration.

“Charter schools are here to stay,” DeVos told the crowd on Tuesday. “But we must recognize that charters aren’t the right fit for every child. For many children, neither a traditional nor a charter public school works for them.”

When DeVos singled out a charter school for praise, she then praised a private school in the next breath, singling out several "Christian schools," including one that operated, mostly tuition-free, in a homeless shelter.

Her remarks were received with limited enthusiasm, among what should have been one of the friendliest crowds the controversial DeVos will address — a group of teachers, administrators and advocates who have embraced school choice as a solution to inequality. Less than half the audience stood to applaud as she finished, and many others remained silent.

“I was surprised at the reaction she got here, honestly,” said one conference attendee, a charter operator who said he was a strong supporter of DeVos. “This is one of the best places that she could be: a very friendly crowd full of school choice advocates. I was a little stunned that there wasn’t bigger support for her.”

“Maybe it was because it was so early in the morning,” he added. “People haven’t had their coffee.”

DeVos is the most ardent supporter of school choice to ever serve as education secretary, advocating policies that would elevate parents’ ability to choose their child's school above all other considerations. In a Trump budget that would slash billions from every other corner of education funding, DeVos’s department has carved out $1 billion to expand school choice nationwide.

But by advocating for public money to flow to private and religious schools alongside How Betsy DeVos Could Break Up The Charter School Coalition: