Eva Moskowitz may or may not have been invited to join the Trump administration as Secretary of Education, but she announced that she is staying in New York to run her charter chain. She is an avid fan of Common Core, and as reported yesterday, some Trump supporters oppose both her and Michelle Rhee because of their Common Core advocacy.
Meanwhile, a new name has surfaced. The Detroit News reports that billionaire Betsy DeVos, a school choice zealot, is in the pool of possible secretaries for Trump. DeVos is active in the Michigan Republican Party, and has funded the pro-voucher, pro-charter American Federation of Children.
Ed reformers like to pretend that they are liberals, as they advocate for school choice and privatization. Trump has brought their agenda to fruition. When you think of Trump’s education agenda, think charter schools, vouchers, school choice, privatization.
DFER can disband now. President-elect Trump is on their side.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Might be tough for charter cheerleaders to explain the ed reform disaster that is Michigan.
DeVos was the architect of that.
Michigan actually has the first fully privatized district in the country. I don’t know what happened to it. Last I read it has changed “operators” three times and people were giving up and moving away to find a public school system.
Michigan charters are for-profits too. It’s a real bonanza if you’re well connected in the “movement”. HUGE group of adults making big bucks on chartering in Michigan.
Ah, yes. Muskegon Heights! Thye Mosaica Charter organization had it. For two years. Then asked out of their contract because they weren’t turning a profit. And the Board let them break the contract.
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2014/04/mosaica_out_as_manager_of_musk.html
It’s probably good though, Diane.
If if ed reform goes hard Right people will figure out it’s about privatization.
It’s past time these people ran on privatization. The privatization plans shouldn’t be limited to private meetings and charter conventions.
We’ll have a public debate and they’ll win or lose.
Chiara,
So right. Time to flush the reformers out of the bushes and show their true goals and their true colors.
Martin Luther King Jr. has nothing in common with these vandals.
DeVos, a declared enemy of public education, can’t get over the fact that Michigan voters THREE times voted against diverting public funds to special interest private schools.
This may not be exactly on point, but let me ask — With over three million teachers in our public schools, why aren’t there more teachers posting comments online in Education Week? Or writing letters to editors or engaging in social media in view of what I call the “slow motion Pearl Harboring of public education” in my column in the current issue of Free Inquiry magazine? We won the education issue elections on Nov 8 in MA, GA and WA State, but the Trumpists won — not the popukar election — but the electoral college majority. And why do we not see the names of Diane Ravitch or Mercedes Schneider in Education Week and the newspapers? — Edd Doerr (arlinc.org)
Maybe because the pages of Edweek are stuffed with promotions for tech and other profit making enterprises
Or because it is funded by Gates?
A revolving door of billionaires with no experience, only money and connections making them “smart.” In other words, Business As Usual In America.
Eva and Michelle are amateurs when it comes to privatizing the public schools. Betsy DeVos is a pro, and has the personal fortune to do it on her own if given the proper platform. Just take a look at the video at this link–the DeVos’ know that their scheme would be poison if too many folks knew what they were really up to: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/5/3/972672/-
The DeVos family would be to public education as the Trumps are about to be to America–the billionaire plunderers who will destroy the thing they pretend to rule.
Have you, along with the unions attempted to meet with Trump. It would be helpful if public school activists and those who have a thorough understanding of what is happening in education sit down with Trump and present another side. Perhaps, just perhaps, he may listen. And possibly make a few recommendations for Ed. Secretary (Diane Ravitch, Randi Weingarten,) perhaps in the name of fixing education, he would be open. I don’t think he has as much self vested interest in the business of Education as some others have.
A Republican friend is trying, Sammi.
On so many levels it would probably be futile . Like the rest of the Republicans, they see public schools as a code word for unions, As a code word for tax payer support which equals taxes.
Does anyone really think that the greatest narcissist on the planet next to Kim Jong Un, cares about anything besides his own self.
He probably still is shock that he was able to pull off the big con.
You’ll hear a lot of Trump-blaming from Democrats when he goes after public schools, but the truth is federal funding for K-12 public schools (excluding charters) has been dropping since 2010 and state funding for public schools never recovered from the huge cuts after the financial crash.
Democrats in ed reform have done a lot of damage to public schools. Trump will just be building on that.
I’m almost hoping they focus so completely on charters and vouchers they become irrelevant to the 90% of children in public schools. There’s just no upside for public schools with these people. It’s all downside.
Betsy DeVos is bad news, to say the very least….
It can’t get any better! As an Amway heiress, she is uniquely qualified to preside over a fraudulent scam. The selling of America is nearly complete.
Steve,
And it has the added bonus of unmasking reformers as rightwing ideologues.
Indeed, Diane, although those masks were never particularly effective!
https://www.greatagain.gov/
Post your ideas, if they get enough NO CHARTER comments ?
AFC is a lobbying group. Shouldn’t she be disqualified per Trump’s “no lobbyist” rule?
IS AFC a charitable c3 or a political c4?
It’s a c4
http://www.federationforchildren.org/about-us/mission/
“The American Federation for Children is a 501(c)(4) organization. We are affiliated with the American Federation for Children Action Fund, a political committee that supports and opposes state-level candidates for elected office….”
Thanks Tamara. Don’t know if that is an obstacle
As a lifelong Michigander, who grew up in Muskegon, I have had intimate contact with the Devos family, the Mackinac Center (their policy organ) and their political power, for decades. If your state has dabbled in charters, and you find this “civil rights experiment” distasteful, take a look at Michigan, which clearly illustrates what advanced charter school maturity looks like: First, they take the low-hanging fruit (Detroit). Then, they start privatizing high-functioning, financially solvent public districts.
I would far rather have had Ben Carson serve as Secretary of Education than Betsy DeVos. In fact, I can’t think of anyone worse. DeVos money, and money directed by the DeVos family, almost single-handedly made Michigan, flagship of the UAW, go red in the 2016 election. (Michigan has not yet been officially called–the vote gap is somewhere around 11K.) The DeVos family has Koch-like tentacles.
Betsy DeVos’s brother, Erik Prince, founded Blackwater, which had a great deal of success monetizing military operations in the Iraq war. And western Michigan, settled by conservative Dutch families (like my own) is the heart of the white, “Christian” Trump movement. I’m sure Betsy would be far more palatable than Rhee (Dem ties) and Moscowitz (CC ties). And besides, they may wish to spend an “unimportant” cabinet slot on a woman, just for the optics–if she agrees to begin the dismantling of the Department, something Evers and Robinson may be more reluctant to do.
Review the news stories on Trump.
It’s amazing. NOT ONE WORD on public schools. No one even asks anymore!
It’s as if public schools disappeared amid charter/voucher-mania.
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/Trumps-School-Choice-Expansion-Plan-May-Face-Uphill-Battle-401443925.html
Not on target for this post, but i thought it was an interesting story you’d be interested in.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/tampa-teacher-facing-firing-describes-year-end-music-test-as-her-worst/2300320
Interesting story, & I could not stop myself from adding comments even tho 21 days old. A perfect illustration of what happens when testing goes rampant: 6-y.o.’s struggling to complete online tests– used to grade/ fire teachers– on theoretical concepts ABOUT music– when what 6-y.o. music class should be all & only about lusty singing & banging on rhythm instruments.
Is it my imagination, or are FL citizens a shade more savvy than most? This is at least the 5th article I’ve read on FL ed-reform issues where the comment thread reveals a shrewd viewpoint on state ed-reform shenanigans. & FL has not been at it nearly as long as OH, MI, IL, WI.
If De Vos is placed in the Department of Education, so-called reform will become a literal pyramid scheme.
Would a billionaire princess like B DeVos give up her sans-portfolio & remote but all-powerful post directing MI state ed policy for the highly-visible, more vulnerable fed position? Gawd I hope not.
I’d like to suggest Fethulla Gulen for the position🙊
Cindy, that is an original idea!
Thanks for the much-needed LOL, Cindy! :>)
Where is Devos on the testing culture and Common Core? Does a billionaire philanthropist have ANY idea of what happens on the ground with the children other than what goes on during the occasional contrived school visit/photo op? God forbid we put an actual teacher on the team. Still, anyone’s better than Michelle Rhee, the Crooked Hillary of education. What say ye, Diane?
DeVos is pro-Common Core.