President-Elect Trump has wasted no time in shaking up the status quo in Washington DC AND the media. While the media scurries to its safe space after the woodshed talk they were given over the weekend, Trump has continued vetting candidates for the various Cabinet positions in the new Administration. His nomination of Betsy DeVos, a Michigan Republican and school choice advocate for Secretary of Education has sent everyone’s head spinning and its something to behold.
Yes, that’s correct. She’s for school choice, in fact she’s an advocate of charter schools and vouchers.
“Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate,” Trump said in a statement released today. “Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.”
Not only is DeVos an advocate of school choice, she is not a fan of Common Core. As she outlines here, she states that she emphatically does not support Common Core because she as well as many others recognized that it would and it has turned into a federal boondoggle.
The following speeches and interviews provide some insight to DeVos and her work as head of American Federation for Children.
Meanwhile, the reaction by entities such as the NEA and teachers unions is rather telling.
Nat'l Education Association out with statement slamming Betsy Davos: "She has consistently pushed a corporate agenda." pic.twitter.com/VPcf1tiaRv
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 23, 2016
Progress Michigan slams Trump's appointment of Betsy DeVos: "The DeVos family education plan has been a disaster for Michigan." pic.twitter.com/avvhD6dlMZ
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 23, 2016
American Federation of Teachers hits DeVos: 'Trump makes it loud and clear his education policy will focus on..destroying public education.' pic.twitter.com/d64sn1DM0K
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 23, 2016
In fact, AFT President had this to say:
Trump has chosen the most ideological, anti-public ed nominee since the creation of the Dept of Education. https://t.co/4NwFn5fzvx
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) November 23, 2016
And the response is?
Cheers! https://t.co/hMMackDpMx
— Monica Crowley (@MonicaCrowley) November 23, 2016
Best endorsement ever. https://t.co/HhngIEN1Yi
— Jeremy Senderowicz (@jsende) November 23, 2016
This is all you need to know to understand how strong a pick DeVos was. https://t.co/jRlCEaJMlJ
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) November 23, 2016
Exactly. If the reaction to her nomination is already this strong, then her opponents are indeed fearful that their cushy status quo of playing politics instead of educating America’s future might soon go by the wayside.
Meanwhile Betsy had this to say in response to the news of her nomination.
I am honored to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again. The status quo in ed is not acceptable.
— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVos) November 23, 2016
We’ve written about the problems in our education system multiple times. Many of us here recognized from the start that something like Common Core on the federal level was going to be a boondoggle of a mess. How bad of a boondoggle and how detrimental it has turned out to be for our children is more than I think any of us realized. Others however, thought it would be great in the beginning and changed their tune down the road once reality hit. Is DeVos one of those? Is she truly a good choice for Sec of Education? That remains to be seen. Needless to say, given the reaction thus far, its evident that her nomination process won’t be a cakewalk.
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