The prepared remarks of Betsy DeVos were released, and Daniel Katz analyzes them here.
DeVos knows very little, maybe nothing, about the public schools of America. She thinks that parents long to send their children to religious schools, for-profit charter schools, cybercharters, anyplace but a local public school.
She never mentions the failure of the school choice policies she has inflicted on Michigan. Michigan has seen its NAEP performance drop steadily–sometimes sharply–since the spread of DeVos ideas. Since 2003, Michigan scores on NAEP have declined from the middle of the pack among states to the bottom third. Detroit is awash in charters, and it is still in desperate trouble as public dollars shift to private management. The Detroit charters are no better than the public schools.
But she doesn’t mention any of that. She just talks about the wonders of choice. It worked for her and her family. Why shouldn’t all children have the same choices as the DeVos family?
When you figure that out, I have a bridge a few blocks from where I live that I want to sell you.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I can’t figure it out, but I would be interested in knowing the price of that bridge. Sounds like a steal of an investment.
Hearing is live on C-Span.
DeVos can believe anything she wants as a private citizen. However, if you are to create educational policy, you should have credentials. DeVos is a blind extremist. She should try reading some of the current research on “choice” that automatically creates winners and losers. Anyone can make unsubstantiated claims about the “wonders of choice.” A leader should be informed. She should look at communities where choice has been a factor for some time. The overall quality of education declines because each new school means every school gets less money to to the same job. Her wealth and ideology have destroyed public education in Detroit, and the quality of education in Michigan is in decline. DeVos is biased and clueless.
Doesn’t matter. Even without DeVos, public schooling will steadily descend into oblivion. Criticizing vouchers, charters, reforms and ‘reformsters’ in general by public educators to public educators is bleeping into the wind. Proponents of public schools need to devise their own plan the public and governments will buy that will change the general perception that the public education is failing our children. The standards of higher teacher pay, smaller classrooms, funding equality, local control, etc. just aren’t cutting it.
I have a plan.
Public education calls charters’ bluff.
Charters teach every child who isn’t meeting standards. Once a child meets standards, they are sent to a public school. That way, charters can focus on the things they do best — providing a miraculous special sauce for students who can’t meet standards. And public schools will do what THEY do best – provide a great education for the students who do meet standards.
Once charters have successfully turned every single failing student into a “scholar”, there will be NO failing kids! We will live in a country where all students are above average, and we can thank charters for that.
DeVos sounds very sad that most children attend public schools.
It must be heartbreaking for her, that 90% of children attend the schools she dismisses as “dead ends”. Most US adults went to public schools! Tragic.
NYC, I agree. Let’s send every child not “meeting” standards, every ESL or learning disabled child, and every misbehaving student to the charters so they can liberally apply their special sauce.
That would leave the cream of the student population for the public schools.
Then let’s compare BS test scores among schools.
A win-win for everybody. No Kobyashi Maru scenario here, just an obvious solution that is seldom proposed.
Pray tell – what is their secret sauce ? What is it ? Were they not supposed to show the way for the public schools ?
9/10 of the prepared speech is extolling the wonders of private and charter schools with a grudging throw-away line at the end for public schools.
I can tell she’l be a “strong advocate” for public schools. She remembered to tack them on there at the end.
It’s generous of her to admit they exist, however. We’re making progress.
I gave up a long time ago on anyone in DC offering anything positive for public schools- somewhere in the middle of the Bush Administration is when it became clear there wasn’t a whole lot of interest.
I attended public schools and sent 4 children thru them. The truth is DC is almost completely irrelevant to the vast majority of public school parents and students. They can switch out an “agnostic” like Duncan with a zealot like DeVos and it won’t make a bit of difference to the vast, vast majority of us or our local schools.
DeVos worked to gut funding for Michigan public schools and those schools still open every day and serve lots and lots of children, with or without her approval or support.
It’s been almost 20 years. I think they’re used to it by now.
I am sickened.
DeVos is failing the Franken test. Deer, meet headlights.
When do you think they roll out the backpack voucher plan? You know that thing is already drafted and ready to go. Now that we’ve dispensed with the obligatory and throw-away line on how they all support public schools they can get to their real passion- privatization.
Democrats are lobbying for charter schools and Republicans are lobbying for private schools. No one mentions the unfashionable public schools. Again.
Kids in public schools should hire an advocate. They need one. They are consistently ignored.
I too am disappointed. We knew what to expect from Republicans. The apparent lack of coordination of Democrats is also disheartening.
Answer to Murphy question on K12: “I don’t think the delivery mechanism is the issue as much as it is our students receiving the benefit of a good education.”
There’s a new type of denigration. You, my teaching friends, are “delivery mechanism” who are no different than computer screens. I knew I should have come up with a “Hi, Bob” type of drinking game for this hearing. At least that might have been time well spent.
It’s really almost funny. It’s as if Republicans in the Senate took an oath where they promised never to mention public schools.
Vouchers and charters, vouchers and charters. It’s like sitting in on one of DeVos’ lobbying sessions in Michigan.
Most of the parents at my son’s public school won’t watch this hearing. I’ll have to tell them that none of their lawmakers felt their schools were valuable enough to mention.
I’ve been watching the hearings and she is ignorant about education. The senators want the ask thorough questions but the Republican leadership is stymieing their efforts.
From the comments I’ve heard, it appears that public schools can’t handle the entire student population and needs help from the faith based community and parents need to be guaranteed choice so their kids don’t have to attend any of those nasty public schools (one worse than the other).
And that’s okay?
Just to give you an idea of what a low priority public schools are in DC, they are allocating 20 billion dollars to private school subsidies. The entire RttT funding for every public school in the country was 4 billion. A tiny portion of private schools gets 5X times as much special “support” as all the public schools.
They don’t support our schools. They support an agenda that doesn’t include our schools. They make that abundantly clear every day.
Another round of vouchers. I’ll look at the transcript but the vast majority of the focus is vouchers.
You literally can’t pay these people to discuss public schools. They refuse. Just not an area of interest.
90% of their “debate” omits 90% of students. I can’t decide if it’s good or bad for public schools that they’re being utterly ignored. On balance I’d say probably “good”. If they’re all chasing vouchers they won’t have any time left over to run any of their crackpot experiments in actual public schools.
Lamar Alexander made a complete fool of himself today.
Ooops again. That’s just the trailer.
Here’s the whole movie:
( 01:18:01 – )
( 01:18:01 – )
“I believe Betsy DeVos has the talent, commitment, and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools and deliver the promise of opportunity that excellent education provides, and I support her nomination as U.S. Secretary of Education,” Moskowitz said. From the NY Post this morning hours before the hearing took place.
Was there really any point in the “show” hearing? Eva Moskowitz heartily endorses DeVos as perfect for the job — Ms. Moskowitz doesn’t need no stinkin’ hearing. She knows DeVos and supports her with all her heart. Why should a few (or many) lies bother any of us – apparently when you are a charter school educator, lies — whether from a President-elect or a Secretary of Education-elect or from your own mouth, are always fine if they lead to more money in charter schools’ coffers.
I’ve been listening to WNYC (public radio) this morning. They said that DeVos didn’t say anything that would derail her confirmation.
Last night they spoke of her successes in the Detroit charter movement.
Both were short segments. I’m concerned that the combination of Obama’s past policies (plus two decades of anti public education propaganda) and Trump’s other nominees will allow this pathetic excuse for a leader to fall through the cracks and land exactly where she wants to be.
They did mention her lack of knowledge about IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) and how her vision of education would serve that population, though. Give them that.
Hah! A friend of mine just forwarded this link to me. Al Franken asks Ms. DeVos for her stance on the use of “Proficiency” or “Growth” to determine student achievement.
Classic:
https://t.co/QFQchwHhuc