Emma Brown of the Washington Post reports that Candice Jackson has been selected to lead the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. Jackson, a lawyer, gained notoriety for attacking Hillary Clinton for defending a child rapist when she was a public defender many years ago. Public defenders do not choose their cases, and they are expected to defend anyone assigned to them.
Jackson worked in the Trump campaign. There is no indication that she ever practiced as a civil rights lawyer.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
t can be depended on to provide news which mainly benefits his affluent donors.
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Things just keep getting worse. When will it end? I’m already worn out from all the ignorance, lies and injustice displayed by Trump.
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Couldn’t care less if she is an “anti-Clinton zealot”. Means nothing. I do care that she has no experience as a civil rights lawyer but not having qualifications in a given area over which one is in charge (see Betsy DeVos) seems to be THE qualification as far as the Salmon Swamp Monster is concerned.
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Duane,
The appointment is a political plum with no connection to merit.
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DeVos met with private school leaders to plan the federal voucher program:
Click to access Outlook424.pdf
Why are public schools so often entirely excluded from ed reform discussions and decisions? I know our “government schools” are a low priority for DeVos and very unfashionable in DC but if they’re “reforming public education” one would think they would occasionally meet with someone from a public school.
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Chiara. I read the newsletter. It looks like the plan is to get to Trump’s promised investment of $20 billion for choice, but it will ramp up slowly. It is also apparent that nobody has figured out to get the money flowing from federal coffers to states and then to anyone who wants to claim the mantle of educator or educational service provider. So far, not a soul is concerned about the potential for fraud, waste, abuse. The Trump/DeVos strategy is to meet separately with different groups excluding professionsls in “traditional” public education.
“The budget also includes a new $250 million private school choice program, part of a $1.4 billion investment in choice that includes $1 billion for Title I portability to follow students to public schools and $168 million in more funds for charter schools. The $1.4 billion is supposed to ramp up eventually to $20 billion.”
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Don’t expect Trump to appoint anyone who is competent and knowledgeable, except former Marine Corps Generals Mattis and Kelly, for a leading position in the federal government.
The malignant narcissist’s goal is to destroy the power of the federal government. He will not achieve that goal if he appoints competent people.
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The GOP’s and Trump’s goal is to destroy the effectiveness and power of the federal government to help ordinary Americans, the “moochers,” seniors, the disabled and especially the hated poor. A disabled federal government is the go ahead for full steam ahead to the corporations and billionaires to rape the republic. Poor people are reviled to the nth degree by the far right GOP/libertarians/Ayn Randians. Are there not poor houses or debtors’ prisons? The poor should beg for charity if they need major surgery. No “nanny state” for the poor and economically disenfranchised.
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It is a good exercise to visit this website, up and running, to see the scope of work for the USDE Office of Civil Rights and how many non-discriminatory laws are on the books, at least in theory. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html
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Looks like we have gone backwards! Thanks, Laura.
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Well maybe next we will find out Betsy meet with the Russians. Her brother of Blackwater infamy got outed today.
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Betsy was allegedly the go between for Trump and her brother and it was probably Steve Bannon’s idea.
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