Donald Trump Is "an Existential Threat to Public Schools" | Mother Jones

Donald Trump Is "an Existential Threat to Public Schools" | Mother Jones:

Donald Trump Is "an Existential Threat to Public Schools"
How teachers' unions are fighting his education secretary pick, Betsy DeVos.

On the day President-elect Donald Trump announced Michigan billionaire philanthropist Betsy DeVos as his pick for education secretary, the heads of the country's two largest teachers unions jumped to condemn the choice. American Federation of Teachers (AFT) president Randi Weingarten called DeVos "the most ideological, anti-public education nominee put forward since President Carter created a Cabinet-level Department of Education." National Education Association (NEA) president Lily Eskelsen García noted the administration's choice "demonstrated just how out of touch it is with what works best for students, parents, educators, and communities."

Educators have worried that DeVos, a prominent Republican fundraiser, and her support for "school choice" and the use of vouchers would endanger public education. With the billionaire's confirmation hearing slated for Wednesday, the nation's two biggest teachers' unions have gone on the offensive with grassroots campaigns to challenge DeVos' nomination. 

"We did everything in our power to get Hillary Clinton elected. We didn't have a plan B."

Neither group anticipated Donald Trump to win the election. "We did everything in our power to get Hillary Clinton elected. We didn't have a plan B," Weingarten says. "We always thought Donald Trump would be as dangerous as he's showing he is." But both unions say they were unsurprised by Trump's selection of DeVos, whose past work in Michigan align with the president-elect's proposals to direct federal dollars toward private and charter schools. "We have many, many years of experience with her and her undermining of the public education system in Michigan. We have frontline stories about what her agenda and the Trump agenda has meant to communities and to students," says Mary Kusler, senior director of the NEA Center for Advocacy. "She was not somebody who was plucked out of thin air for us."

Education historian Diane Ravitch, who founded the advocacy group Network for Public Education in 2013, described unions as "shocked and worried" by the DeVos selection in an email to Mother Jones. "The previous Republican administrations did not threaten the very existence of public education and teachers unions," she added. "This coming four years is an existential threat to a basic Democratic Donald Trump Is "an Existential Threat to Public Schools" | Mother Jones:

Schools Matter: Lamar Alexander Assures Diane Supporters about DeVos

Schools Matter: Lamar Alexander Assures Diane Supporters about DeVos:

Lamar Alexander Assures Diane Supporters about DeVos

When Diane Ravitch wanted her flock to be herded into supporting the federal charter school expansion legislation known as ESSA, she called upon Lamar Alexander's office to offer a nine-part spin session (see below) designed to mislead, obfuscate, and soothe any remaining skeptics. After all, Diane's support prior to ESSA passage was seminal in neutralizing early resistance to the new blueprint for Ed Reform 2.0.  The least that Alexander could do, as the Bill's co-sponsor, was to offer up his propaganda chief to help baffle any remaining ESSA doubters with tons of regulatory bullshit.

Though Diane's most recent ESSA campaign of political treachery essentially signaled the end of the Fall and Rise of the Reign of Ravitch, she continues to try to distinguish her own policy agenda from the neoliberal ed policies that her actions consistently support, even as she disavows them.  The most recent example can be found in her incessant lambasting of Billionaire Betsy as the educational anti-christ, when, in fact, Betsy DeVos serves as the perfect foil for Ravitch's long-time allowances for corporate welfare non-profit charter schools in her education ecosystem. 

The biggest differences between Betsy and Diane is that Betsy likes any kind of privatization and is proud of it, while Diane has a selective criteria for draining public education funds with segregated charters, and she doesn't like to talk it--at all.  Ravitch would rather pretend, in fact, that she is leading the opposition, even if it directly down the rabbit hole.

Maybe, just maybe, Alexander's office can put to rest any skepticism that remains about Billionaire Betsy.  The temporary delay Schools Matter: Lamar Alexander Assures Diane Supporters about DeVos:

Did Betsy DeVos 'BUY' Donald Trump | Washington Examiner

GOP megadonor wants Trump to start praising school choice | Washington Examiner:

GOP megadonor wants Trump to start praising school choice 

Republican megadonor Betsy DeVos seems to want Donald Trump to start talking about school choice before she'll support him. Trump has yet to mention school choice much on the campaign trail, although he has said education needs to be done at the state and local level. School choice hasn't come up much during the main convention speeches, but DeVos, chair of the pro-school choice group American Federation for Children, said the school choice discussion has exceeded her expectations.

"I've been happily surprised to hear it mentioned as many times as it has been, because it hasn't been part of the conversation nationally to date," DeVos said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. "It's pretty understandable because on the other side, Hillary is clearly in the camp of the status quo and the teachers' unions. But I'm very hopeful Mr. Trump will begin talking about this as part of his campaign rhetoric going into the fall. I think it's a really important issue that Republicans broadly can and should embrace because it represents hope and opportunity for a lot of people who don't have it today."

DeVos spoke positively of the speeches given by Trump's sons, Eric and Donald Jr. On Tuesday, Trump Jr. said the country needs more school choice. "You know why other countries do better in K through 12?" Trump Jr. said. "They let parents choose where to send their own children to school. That's called competition. It's called the free market."

If Trump makes a similar mention of school choice when he accepts the nomination Thursday night, it would probably go a long way in persuading DeVos to support him. "I'm continuing to watch and listen and observe," she said, not ruling out a later endorsement. But for that to come, DeVos wants to see "A greater focus on the issues that are of import to all of the American people. … I need to see more of a refinement on that. And to see a more presidential demeanor." She later added that Trump's rhetoric also needs refinement.

Despite Trump's lack of vision on education, DeVos ruled out any possibility of supporting Hillary Clinton, even if Clinton chooses a pro-school choice running mate like Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

DeVos also mentioned that Trump's campaign seems to be going fine without financial support from the GOP donor class. "Truth be told, Mr. Trump has been running a campaign that hasn't really required the resources of a lot of other people. And it's been working for him," DeVos said.

DeVos and her husband, Dick, are major players in Michigan Republican politics. The family has billions of dollars in Amway wealth and Betsy was the chair of the state GOP from 1996-2000 and again in 2004. Dick ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2006.

"There's an opportunity" for Trump to win Michigan, she said, though he faces an uphill battle. A CBS Poll of Michigan conducted earlier this month found Clinton had a three-point lead over Trump. "Michigan clearly is kind of a schizophrenic state," DeVos said, pointing out Michigan's tendency to vote for Democrats in presidential elections but vote for Republicans for statewide offices.

DeVos and her husband endorsed Marco Rubio just before the Michigan primary in March, but she doesn't feel betrayed by Rubio's endorsement of Trump. She said Rubio's endorsement of Trump seemed to follow "a natural progression" and that both his and Gov. Scott Walker's comments at the convention in support of Trump were "important and appropriate."

In a March interview with the Examiner, DeVos said, "I don't think [Trump] represents the Republican Party. I think he is an interloper." Even at that stage, it was no sure bet that Trump was going to win the GOP nomination.

Jason Russell is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.

GOP megadonor wants Trump to start praising school choice | Washington Examiner:

Big Education Ape: Donald Trump Dances to His Billionaire Backers’ Tune on School Choice - The Daily Beast - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/09/donald-trump-dances-to-his-billionaire.html

Schools Matter: Who is Cambridge Education?

Schools Matter: Who is Cambridge Education?:

Who is Cambridge Education?

On September 15, 2016, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission approved a $200,000 contract with Cambridge Education for investigation of the cash-strapped Philadelphia School District that stated:
  

RESOLVED, that the School Reform Commission authorizes the School District of Philadelphia, through its Superintendent or his designee, to execute, deliver and perform a contract with Cambridge Education, to develop, manage, and execute a comprehensive School Quality Review process, to gather data and develop qualitative reports on school quality and to engage the school community and gather community input, for an amount not to exceed $200,000, for the period commencing September 16, 2016 through June 30, 2017. 

The description the SRC provided of the Resolution said:

The information gathered during the School Quality  Review process will be used to inform recommendations on appropriate measures to be taken to promote sustained school improvement through the System of Great Schools process. The vendor's purpose in the School Quality Review Process will be to provide additional on-the ground data to inform decision-making. All final recommendations on the investments and interventions to be made in schools will be made by the District.

See SRC Resolution A-3 for the full description of this resolution.

Since the September 15^th, 2016 meeting, the SRC has held hearings at its eleven Priority Schools. They were Schools Matter: Who is Cambridge Education?:

Betsy DeVoucher - Living in Dialogue

Betsy DeVoucher - Living in Dialogue:

Betsy DeVoucher 

I found this great animation by Ryan Sluggett on the web. Hopefully, with Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing postponed a week, new disclosures will save us from this nightmare scenario. –Vincent

 Betsy DeVoucher - Living in Dialogue:

Positive School Cultures Thrive When Support Staff Included

Positive School Cultures Thrive When Support Staff Included:

Positive School Cultures Thrive When Support Staff Included

The whole village concept for improving schools stresses the importance of all school employees working together to help students succeed – everyone from principals, custodians and bus drivers to teachers, nurses, administrators, security and food service workers. The objective is to create a school culture that helps students reach their full potential academically, socially, and emotionally.

“Everything that goes on in a school is important,” says Dr. James Comer, a child psychiatrist with the Yale University Child Study Center and renowned child development author. “ESPs (education support professionals) are involved in ways that support everybody in the school and decrease behavioral problems.”

With almost 3 million school support staff working in our nation’s public schools, Comer says it’s imperative to the well-being of students that ESPs be included in school activities. During a webinar titled, The Village and the Whole Student, Comer says ESPs can help impact student learning and performance when they are respected and included as workplace partners.

“ESPs are often available in ways the classroom teacher is not,” Comer says. “You ask a child 20, 30 years later and they will tell you that what that person (an ESP) thought was very important.”

Partners in Education

Approximately 75 percent of ESPs live, vote, worship, and work in the same school district. They often live in the same neighborhoods and shop at the same stores as students and their families.Positive School Cultures Thrive When Support Staff Included:

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Pick, Plays Hardball With Her Wealth - The New York Times

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Pick, Plays Hardball With Her Wealth - The New York Times:

Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Pick, Plays Hardball With Her Wealth

After Tom Casperson, a Republican state senator from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, began running for Congress in 2016, he assumed the family of Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee to be education secretary, would not oppose him.

The DeVoses, a dominant force in Michigan politics for decades with a fortune in the billions, had contributed to one of Mr. Casperson’s earlier campaigns. But a week before his primary, family members sent $24,000 to one of his opponents, then poured $125,000 into a “super PAC,” Concerned Taxpayers of America, that ran ads attacking him.

The reason, an intermediary told Mr. Casperson: his support from organized labor.

“Deceitful, dishonest and cowardly,” was how Mr. Casperson’s campaign described the ads, complaining that the groups running them “won’t say who they are or where their money is coming from.” On Primary Day, Mr. Casperson went down to defeat.

In announcing his intention to nominate Ms. DeVos, Mr. Trump described her as “a brilliant and passionate education advocate.” Even critics characterized her as a dedicated, if misguided, activist for school reform. But that description understates both the breadth of Ms. DeVos’s political interests and the influence she wields as part of her powerful family. More than anyone else who has joined the incoming Trump administration, she represents the combination of wealth, free-market ideology and political hardball associated with a better-known family of billionaires: Charles and David Koch.

“They have this moralized sense of the free market that leads to this total program to turn back the ideas of the New Deal, the welfare state,” Kim Phillips-Fein, a historian who has written extensively about the conservative movement, said, describing the DeVoses.

Ms. DeVos declined to be interviewed for this article.

Like the Kochs, the DeVoses are generous supporters of think tanks that evangelize for unrestrained capitalism, like Michigan’s Acton Institute, and that rail against unions and back privatizing public services, like the Mackinac Center.

They have also funded national groups dedicated to cutting back the role of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s Education Pick, Plays Hardball With Her Wealth - The New York Times:

Marie Corfield: The First Week of the 115th Congress

Marie Corfield: The First Week of the 115th Congress:

The First Week of the 115th Congress

NJ Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman posted this on Facebook yesterday (all emphasis mine):

The week in review:

1. Trump fires all Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day.
2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing them to reduce an individual civil service, SES position, or political appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing them by amendment to any piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of people in [the departments of] Energy and State.
3. Senate schedules 6 simultaneous hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote, effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest.
4. House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA.
5. Trump continues to throw the intelligence community under the bus to protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians deliberately interfered in our election.
6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking Congress (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to pay for it.
7. Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US.
8. House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules enacted by any federal agency or department—for example, FDA or EPA bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists, not science. Don't like that endangered species designation? Congress kills it.

We - progressive, liberal, libertarian and conservative - need to all wake up to what is actually happening to our beloved country.
#UnitedWeStand

COPY AND PASTE this entire post into your own status update instead of sharing. More of your friends will see it.

****

Thank you Rep. Watson Coleman! You were a fighter when you were a New Jersey Assemblywoman and we are so glad you are fighting for us in Washington.

Folks, this is not America. This is not a democracy. My country is quickly devolving into an authoritarian regime, a puppet state with Putin pulling the strings. 

But as the saying goes, "What do we do when we're under attack? We stand up. We fight back!"

Get on the phones. Call your elected officials and demand an explanation. Then, get up, get out and fight like hell!

See you in DC on the 21st.

Marie Corfield: The First Week of the 115th Congress:

Sen. Patty Murray seeks update on ethics review for Trump’s education pick, Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post

Sen. Patty Murray seeks update on ethics review for Trump’s education pick, Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post:

Sen. Patty Murray seeks update on ethics review for Trump’s education pick, Betsy DeVos

 A key Democratic senator is seeking more information about the status of a required ethics review for Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary.

The Office of Government Ethics, which is responsible for examining nominees’ financial disclosures and resolving potential conflicts of interest, on Saturday sounded an alarm about the fact that Senate Republicans were planning confirmation hearings this week for Trump nominees whose ethics reviews remained unfinished.

Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking Democrat of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has said that DeVos’s confirmation hearing — currently scheduled for Wednesday — should be postponed until the Office of Government Ethics has a chance to complete its vetting.

[Betsy DeVos and her family members are major donors to GOP senators who will vote on her confirmation]

In a letter Friday to the head of the ethics office, Walter M. Shaub Jr., Murray asked for details about whether DeVos — a Michigan billionaire with significant financial holdings and a long record of contributions to political candidates and conservative causes — has submitted required information and where her review stands.

“Given Ms. DeVos’ very significant financial resources and the high position of public trust to which she will be nominated, it is essential that our Committee fully understand in advance of the hearing what are the potential conflicts of interest and the steps she will take in order to comply with federal ethics laws and regulations,” Murray wrote.

Here are the six questions Murray asked Shaub to answer:

1. Have OGE and the Department of Education received all the necessary information from Ms. DeVos?

2. Has the report been filed with OGE?

3. Has an ethics agreement been completed?

4. Has OGE reviewed and certified both Ms. DeVos’ financial disclosure form (OGE-278) and ethics agreement?

5. Are there outstanding ethics issues that still need to be resolved?

6. Can you provide an estimate of how long it will take to reach and certify an agreement? Sen. Patty Murray seeks update on ethics review for Trump’s education pick, Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post:

NAACP | NAACP Task Force to Hold Memphis Hearing on Education Quality

NAACP | NAACP Task Force to Hold Memphis Hearing on Education Quality:

NAACP TASK FORCE TO HOLD MEMPHIS HEARING ON EDUCATION QUALITY

 Jan. 10 Discussion between Public and Charter Education Advocates will include Charter Impacts on Underfunded School Districts

MEMPHIS, TN – A new NAACP task force studying education quality will be taking input from advocates, teachers, parents, and policy experts next week.

The NAACP National Task Force for Quality Education, along with The Tennessee State Conference of the NAACP, will host the second of several national public hearings concerning public education quality and the impact of charter schools on underfunded school districts.

“In our communities in Memphis and around the nation, public education has always been the fountain of opportunity and we’ve got to ensure that in our attempts to improve it, we don’t unintentionally let it run dry,” said NAACP CEO and President Cornell William Brooks. “Ensuring that underfunded districts are not disparately impacted by the growth of charters or privatization has always been a priority for the NAACP.”

This event is the second hearing organized by the Task Force for QualityEducation.

The task force was created in October after board members approved a moratorium on expanding public charter school fundinguntil safeguards are in place to provide better transparency regarding accountability, and to prevent cases of fraud and mismanagement.

The hearing is set for Tuesday, January 10 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. at the Holiday Inn at 3700 Central Ave. in Memphis.

The first task force hearing was held in early December in New Haven, CT. Future hearings are planned in Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY, New Orleans, LA and Orlando, FL.

Educators, administrators, parents, students, elected officials, and education policy experts from throughout Tennessee will participate in the hearing.

“This is the second of seven hearings to be held around the nation taking a deep look at the issues facing public schools as well as the pros and cons of charter schools,” said Gloria Sweet-Love, President, Tennessee State Conference, Member, NAACP National Board of Directors and Member, National Task Force on Quality Education.

Invited key participants will include:

• Dr. Carol Johnson, Former Director of Schools (Boston City, St. Paul, MN, and Memphis)
• Mr. David Pickler, Co-Founder, American Public Education
• Ms. Teresa Jones, Attorney, and Chair of the Shelby County School Board
• Dr. Earl Watkins, Chair of Mississippi State NAACP Education Committee
• Dr. Merwyn L. Scott, Director Minority Community Organizing & Partnership Dept., National Education Association (NEA)
• Ms. Malika Anderson, Superintendent of Achievement School District
• Ms. Maya Bugg, CEO of the Tennessee Charter Center
• Dr. Patrick Washington, Director Promise Academy
• Charter School Advocates

“By bringing people from our community together from both sides, we can better understand the impact of charters on school funding and gain more transparency concerning their impact on public schools,” said Alice Huffman, chairman of the task force and president of the California State Conference of the NAACP.

Visitors who wish to speak at the hearing are asked to pre-register one hour before the session begins. To accommodate the public, individual speakers may be asked to adhere to a time limit or to appoint a representative to speak on behalf of a group.

###

Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas here.

NAACP | NAACP Task Force to Hold Memphis Hearing on Education Quality:

Mitt Romney Speaks Up for Governance by Plutocrats | janresseger

Mitt Romney Speaks Up for Governance by Plutocrats | janresseger:

Mitt Romney Speaks Up for Governance by Plutocrats

Mitt Romney had a preposterous op-ed in the Washington Post over the weekend.  He suggests that Betsy DeVos, a billionaire, is ideally qualified to be U.S. Secretary of Education because she is so rich she doesn’t stand to benefit from any kind of future employment in a public school.

Romney’s argument is that the One Percent ought to be in charge of making public education policy, because unlike the the rest of us, billionaires lack the bias that might be carried by somebody who needed work—as a schoolteacher, for example. While the rest of us might worry that Betsy DeVos lacks relevant experience as a public school student or public school parent or public school teacher, and lacks training in pedagogy or school administration, Romney believes her vast wealth is her best qualification for the job:  “Essentially, it’s a debate between those in the education establishment who support the status quo because they have a financial stake in the system and those who seek to challenge the status quo because it’s not serving kids well… First, it’s important to have someone who isn’t financially biased shaping education. As a highly successful businesswoman, DeVos doesn’t need the job now, nor will she be looking for an education job later.”

Profiling DeVos in the Washington Post, Emma Brown describes the political giving of the DeVos family. In contrast to Mitt Romney, Brown explains that Betsy DeVos is biased: DeVos has a financial stake in a clear political agenda that has for decades been represented by her and her husband’s political giving. Brown reports that DeVos told Roll Call in 1997: “that she had decided ‘to stop taking offense at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point. They are right. We do expect some things in return. We expect to foster a conservative governing philosophy consisting of limited government and respect for traditional American values.”

Romney also claims there is substantial academic research proving that charter schools in Mitt Romney Speaks Up for Governance by Plutocrats | janresseger:

Do Connecticut’s privately-managed charter schools outperform local public school districts? (By Robert Cotto Jr.) - Wait What?

Do Connecticut’s privately-managed charter schools outperform local public school districts? (By Robert Cotto Jr.) - Wait What?:

Do Connecticut’s privately-managed charter schools outperform local public school districts? (By Robert Cotto Jr.)

Despite the political rhetoric coming out of ConnCAN and other charter school industry front groups, Trinity’s Robert Cotto reveals that Connecticut’s charter schools do not outperform local public schools.

 Do Connecticut’s privately-managed charter schools outperform local public school districts? (By Robert Cotto Jr.)

A few weeks ago, attorney Wendy Lecker asked me in an interview for the Stamford Advocate, “Do Connecticut charter schools outperform district schools?” My answer was, “Not exactly”.

As my Choice Watch report (Cotto & Feder, 2014) demonstrated, charter schools in Connecticut tend to serve a relatively more advantaged group of (mostly) Black and Latinx children including fewer children with disabilities, emerging bilingual children, and children eligible for free and reduced priced meals compared to the students in local public schools in the same cities as the charter schools. As a result, comparing the test results of charter schools with local public schools is like comparing “apples to oranges” because they often serve very different groups of children.

However, using a simple scatterplot chart, it is fairly easy to show that charter schools’ mean test results are not overwhelmingly better when compared with public school districts that have similarly-situated students in terms of a rough income indicator. Other scholars, such as Bruce Baker (2012) at Rutgers University, have constructed scatterplots of income vs. 7th grade math test results to demonstrate similar observations about charter and public schools.

For example, below I constructed an interactive scatterplot that compares 6th grade average scale scores on the CMT reading (2012) versus percentage of children eligible for free Do Connecticut’s privately-managed charter schools outperform local public school districts? (By Robert Cotto Jr.) - Wait What?:

Opposition grows over Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education nominee - The Washington Post

Opposition grows over Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education nominee - The Washington Post:

Opposition grows over Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education nominee

DeVos Hearing 1/11: UPDATED Senate HELP Committee Members. Call today. - Network For Public Education

Public education was not much of an issue during the 2016 presidential campaign — but it sure is now as opposition grows to the Senate confirmation of Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s education secretary  nominee, who once called the U.S. traditional public school system a “dead end.”

The confirmation hearing by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions had been set for Wednesday, but late Monday it was postponed until Jan. 17, with panel leaders releasing a statement saying the date was changed “at the request of the Senate leadership to accommodate the Senate schedule.” They did not note that Democrats had been pushing for a delay because an ethics review of DeVos has not been completed.

DeVos, a leader in the movement to privatize the U.S. public-education system, has quickly become a lightning rod in the education world since her nomination by Trump in November 2015.

Supporters say that as education secretary she would work to expand the range of choices that parents have in choosing a school for their children and that she is dedicated to giving every child an opportunity to succeed. Her critics say that her long advocacy for vouchers and her push for lax regulation of charter schools reveals an antipathy to public education; they point to an August 2015 speech in which she said that the traditional public education system  is a “dead end” and that “government truly sucks.”

Thousands of people have signed petitions, started Twitter campaigns and called congressional offices urging that DeVos not be confirmed. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), expressing concern about the nomination, sent DeVos a long list of questions she wants answered, while Sen. Cory  Booker (D-N.J.), who has worked alongside DeVos on some school reform issues, said in a December interview with the 74, a news website, that he had has “serious” issues with her confirmation.

A coalition of more than 200 national nonprofit organizations on Monday sent a letter (see text below) to the Senate Education Committee accusing DeVos of seeking “to undermine bedrock American principles of equal opportunity, nondiscrimination and public education itself.”  The Opposition grows over Senate confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education nominee - The Washington Post:

The Long Shadow of John Deasy

The Long Shadow of John Deasy:

The Long Shadow of John Deasy

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”

– George Santayana

It has been more than two years since LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy was forced to resign in disgrace. Unfortunately, the legacy that he has left for the District’s students echoes into the present day. After spending at least $189 million on the “disastrous” MiSiS computer system, there are still reports of problems with its functionality. His $1.3 billion failed iPad program wasted scarce education dollars as the District faces bankruptcy. The culture of bullying that Deasy propagated may end up costing the District $1 billion and the opportunity for outside lawyers to rack up plenty of billable hours.

These outcomes should not have been a surprise since Deasy had “a shady history of allegedly lying about his credentials and snatching up money wherever he [could] find it”. Still, the LAUSD Board, lead by then Board President Monica Garcia, voted 6-0-1 to promote him “without so much as a job interview”. The abstention was made by Steve Zimmer who complained that the Board “didn’t have a process — internal or external” for vetting Deasy and no other candidates were presented for his consideration. Even as teachers voted overwhelmingly that they had no confidence in the Superintendent, Garcia continued to be “Deasy’s staunchest supporter on the board” until the MiSiS crisis forced him to resign.

The campaign leading to the March LAUSD elections provides an opportunity to look at past actions and provide accountability to the voters. While the California Charter School association denies responsibility, the recent push-poll that sought reaction to the statement that “more than 200 children have been molested and abused under Steve Zimmer’s watch at the school board” sounds like something out of their playbook. If this scandal is fair game, then shouldn’t Monica Garcia answer to the same charges, especially since she was President of the Board for six years? Shouldn’t she also have to explain why she pushed Antonio Villaraigosa’s agenda as she presided over the Board, including promoting John Deasy to The Long Shadow of John Deasy:

US Ed Sec Nominee Betsy DeVos Has More Firsthand Experience Selecting Carpet Swatches | deutsch29

US Ed Sec Nominee Betsy DeVos Has More Firsthand Experience Selecting Carpet Swatches | deutsch29:

US Ed Sec Nominee Betsy DeVos Has More Firsthand Experience Selecting Carpet Swatches

 DeVos engrossed with carpet.

On January 09, 2017, founder of the Center for Education Reform (CER), Jeanne Allen, issued a press release stating (warning: worn-out phrase coming), “But charter schools are public schools” and adding, “they’re just not the kinds of public schools that the AFT likes.” Allen was responding to American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten’s statement about US secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos’ being “anti-public-education.”

Allen maintains that Weingarten is wrong since DeVos supports charter schools.

At best, charter schools are only partially public schools: They often take public money without answering to the public via elected boards.

CER’s email notification of its press release included the following statement:

Union’s language and rhetoric should be rebuffed by every American teacher

That will not be happening. In order for The Rebuff to occur, *every American teacher* would have to buy into the idea that there really is no distinction between charter schools and actual public schools– with “public schools” being defined as those that enroll any student at any point in the school year, and that are operated by elected school boards, and that cannot refuse a board-determined audit of their finances or other operations.

Still, those occupying the soft seats of ed reform like Allen continue to try to press-US Ed Sec Nominee Betsy DeVos Has More Firsthand Experience Selecting Carpet Swatches | deutsch29:

Senate postpones confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick - The Washington Post

Senate postpones confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick - The Washington Post:

Senate postpones confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has postponed the confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary.

DeVos’s hearing, originally scheduled to take place on Wednesday morning, has been rescheduled for Jan. 17 at 5 p.m., according to a joint statement from the HELP committee chairman, Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and ranking member, Patty Murray (D-Wash).

The move comes after Democrats raised concerns about the fact that the Office of Government Ethics, which has said it is overwhelmed by vetting Trump’s nominees, has not yet completed its review of DeVos’s financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest.

Alexander and Murray did not mention those concerns in a joint statement announcing the postponement. They said the change in timing came “at the request of the Senate leadership Senate postpones confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education pick - The Washington Post: