We know about the grizzly bears and Billionaire Betsy’s ignorance about special education, but we have not seen her respond to questions about higher education.
This clip of Elizabeth Warren grilling her on higher education is priceless.
It is almost cruel to ask substantive questions of DeVos. She doesn’t know and doesn’t care. She promises to discuss it and get back to you later, after she is confirmed.
Please watch:
I don’t believe in conspiracy theories. Nope, I don’t believe in conspiracy theories.
I also find it hard to believe that the American people are so dumb as to elect a phony, a guy who pad a $25 million fine for scamming people with his fraudulent “university.”
So here is the latest conspiracy theory.
It involves Billionaire Betsy, her brother, and the Man Who Would Be King. I don’t endorse it. I pass it on so you won’t be left in the dark.
Billionaire Betsy DeVos claimed that she was not a member of the board of her mother’s foundation, which gave generous grants to extremist anti-LGTB groups, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. When the Washington Post pointed out that Betsy’s name was on the foundation’s tax reports for 13 years, her spokesperson said it was a “clerical error.”
A reader comments:
“There is no way this is a true statement. Every foundation of this size is required to submit annual reports to the IRS and provide documentation of its board of directors, its income, its dispersals, and the process of selecting areas for distribution. I do not find it credible that the lawyers and accountants who prepared these documents and the board of directors that reviewed and approved these documents NEVER verified the membership of the board of directors. It also seems strange that Ms. DeVos, who appeared to be familiar with the documents, had never noticed that her name was listed on the board of directors. She either does not pay attention to very important management details, or she lied about not knowing she was listed on the board of directors. Clerical error? Really? Either way, this is one more example of her lack of competence for this post.”
This morning, I posted an evaluation by Mathematica Policy Research, which concluded that the federal School Improvement Grants had no effect on test scores. A reader named Sara explains here why the SIG program failed, after spending $3.5 billion:
The SIG required certain interventions and did not give any autonomy or decision making power to the people who already worked in the school.
So for example in the school where I work, SIG required that an outside organization provide social emotional support to students- rather than supplementing the counseling and social work staff who are highly qualified and already know the students. Whenever new people come into a situation there is a long learning curve. Also people from an outside organization do not have a long term commitment to the school.
Another example, staff came in for the grant who merely measured and “coached” – what the school really needed was smaller class size, so for example another math teacher instead of a “coach.” Experienced teachers for the most part know what to do, they are just overwhelmed by the large number of students who have special issues – and they do not have support.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on technology – but the librarian and IT person were let go.
The presumption on the part of the administrators (not in the school) of the grant was that the problems in the school lay with the teachers – not with poverty, an insufficient number of qualified staff, and an unstable district.
The Los Angeles wrote in an editorial today that the Senate should not confirm Betsy DeVos. She embarrassed herself by her lack of knowledge of the role of the federal government, federal policies, and federal laws.
Betsy DeVos’ love of private school vouchers didn’t disqualify her for the role of U.S. Education secretary, even though vouchers are a bad idea. Nor did her lack of experience in public schools.
What did render her unacceptable was her abysmal performance at her confirmation hearing Tuesday, during which she displayed an astonishing ignorance about basic education issues, an extraordinary lack of thoughtfulness about ongoing debates in the field and an unwillingness to respond to important questions.
She was so unprepared that she sounded like a schoolchild who hadn’t done her homework. She frankly embarrassed herself and should be rejected by the Senate. Better yet, President-elect Donald Trump should withdraw her name and find someone who at least meets the basic qualifications for the post…
DeVos said, reasonably enough, that all kinds of schools — traditional public, charter, private — could expect her support if they did a good job of educating students. But then she contradicted herself by refusing to say that she would hold charter and private schools just as accountable as conventional public schools. Doing a good job matters only for some schools, apparently….
DeVos apparently didn’t even realize that there’s a federal law protecting the educational rights of students with disabilities, saying it should be up to states to make decisions about disabled students. Told that this was a matter of federal law, she stumbled yet again, saying, well, then, the law should be followed, and suggesting that she might have been confused earlier. In addition, she was wildly off in her figures on student debt.
Add to this her failure to answer questions about her home state of Michigan’s underperforming charter schools, whose growth she advocated; about existing laws to protect adults from predatory for-profit colleges; or whether she would honor the Obama administration’s rules regarding sexual abuse on campus.
DeVos is entitled and expected to disagree with Obama administration policies; what disqualifies her is her lack of understanding of existing law and policy, and her inability to address them thoughtfully.
Betsy DeVos testified to the Senate committee at her confirmation hearing that she was not a director of her mother’s foundation, although tax returns for 13 years list her as vice-president the board. Her mother was a founder and generous funder of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both of which are anti-LGBT groups. But Betsy knew nothing about it, had nothing to do with it. It was a “clerical error.”
During the time DeVos was listed as an officer, the Prince Foundation gave $5.1 million to Focus on the Family, an advocate of “conversion therapy” — counseling designed to make gay, lesbian, bisexual or queer people become straight. The same group has railed against anti-bullying programs that even mention homosexuality as a covert way to introduce sexual orientation to children.
The organization also poured $6.1 million into Family Research Council, a conservative think tank labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for saying such things as homosexual men are more likely to engage in child sexual abuse than heterosexual men.
When the family manages so many billions of dollars and so many foundations, it is easy to confuse where the money went, I suppose, or which family foundation one belongs to. As Esquire magazine blogger Charles Pierce said on Twitter today, it is easy to misplace $100 million. Everyone has these problems.
I was part of a heated debate including Emma Brown of the Washington Post, Randi Weingarten of the AFT, and Matt Frendewey of Betsy DeVos’s American Federation for Children.
Emma played it straight. The sparks flew when Matt attacked Randi and me, and both of came at him from different directions.
The DeVos line is that she really cares about kids, and no one else does.
Thanks to reader Joel Herman for pointing out this important article about the real origins of the religious right.
It did not become organized because of the legalization of abortion by Roe v. Wade. When that decision was announced, evangelicals barely responded.
The issue that mobilized the religious right was segregation. Racism. Read the article.
A group called “Expect More Arizona” conducted a poll and found that the public is willing to pay higher taxes for better schools. Arizona is currently overrun with charter schools, most of dubious quality. Choice has left most children behind.
A survey conducted in mid-December on behalf of Expect More Arizona affirms that education is still the most pressing issue on the minds of Arizona voters, above immigration and the economy.
When asked to name specific concerns related to education, lack of funding and teacher pay/teacher shortage rose to the top. In fact, when asked what issue, if any, voters would be willing to pay more in taxes to support, higher teacher pay was the top issue across all political parties.
The poll also showed strong support for the renewal of Prop 301, a voter initiative passed in 2000 that provides a six-tenths of one cent sales tax for public education, resulting in more than $650 million in revenue each year. Additionally, voters surveyed support possibly increasing the associated sales tax rate in order to fund teacher pay or K-3 literacy programs.
Other notable results from the survey of likely Arizona voters show:
Finding a long-term solution for education funding is rated as a top education priority by 84 percent of likely Arizona voters, regardless of their age, party affiliation, ethnicity, economic status, or geographic location.
Ninety-five (95) percent of voters believe it is important to provide schools the funding they need to attract and retain great teachers with 76 percent agreeing Arizona is facing a teacher shortage crisis.
An overwhelming majority agree that Arizona must ensure all students receive the support needed to read proficiently by the end of 3rd grade (95%).
Voters agree all students deserve a great education (96%) and that education impacts the strength of our communities (95%).
Eighty percent agree that increasing the number of people who graduate from the state’s public community colleges and universities will help improve the state’s economy and 75 percent of voters also agree that community colleges and universities should receive additional funding.
Trevor Noah of the Daily Show reviewed Betsy DeVos’s performance at the Senate hearings and concludes she failed every subject. But she will be confirmed anyway. Why? Because she passed “Donations 101.”
Now you will understand why Senator Lamar Alexander cut off the questioning and limited other senators to no more than 5 minutes.
You can also find the video link in this article.
Diane Ravitch's blog 