Peter Greene fact-checked Betsy DeVos’s “back to school” speech at a religious school in Milwaukee and discovered that all of her facts were wrong. But facts, in DeVos’s worldview, are tiresome and unnecessary.
Perhaps most egregious was her paean of praise to Polly Williams, an African American state legislator who supported school choice until she realized she had been duped. DeVos ignores Williams’ change of heart and pretends that she was a true believer until the end. The reality in Milwaukee was that the voucher program was bankrolled by the far-right Bradley Foundation, which used Polly Williams. She eventually became disillusioned.
Peter Greene writes:
DeVos…chose to invoke Annette “Polly” Williams, the mother of school choice in Wisconsin. The Democratic politician and activist wrote the first school choice legislation in the country (adopted in 1989) and became a popular speaker on the issue, particularly to conservative audiences.
But Williams became disenchanted with the school choice movement. Her original legislation did not include religious schools, but was expanded to do so five years later. Williams took to calling the voucher program a “Catholic movement.” She expressed displeasure with some of the folks, like Lamar Alexander and Bill Bennett, who swooped in to speak. She accused leaders of exploiting black and poor families, and of leaving poor families behind with the program expansion. 75% of voucher recipients were not escaping the public system, because they had never been in it. She was critical of education measures taken by Governor Scott Walker, whose supporters have included the DeVos family.
Williams told an interviewer, “Our intent was never to destroy the public schools.” When accused of drifting away from the movement, she would reply, “I haven’t changed. The people around me have changed.”
It’s an odd choice for DeVos to invoke Williams, who seems to have viewed folks like DeVos as having hijacked the charter movement. But DeVos seems determined to launch, or at least lay a foundation for,a national voucher program, and she’s going to paint a favorable picture with whatever brush she has handy.
What Betsy DeVos Got Right (Ever, Anywhere):
Yes,the set is empty. Just like Betsy’s head.
dienne77, Betsy the Brainless DeVos was born “VERY” wealthy and brain-hacked by her parents to turn her into the human-vampire, faux Christian she has become.
If it’s possible for her brother, Erik Prince, to be less Christian-like, he is.
“The education cabal” reference is a joke. Public education is no more a cabal than community police officers or fire fighters. These are public employees that provide a public service. Public schools are not one organization. They are a multitude of organizations that vary from state to state and community to community. Her cabal reference is likely a reference to the “evil” unions that are perfectly legal in this country. DeVos is out of touch and totally biased. Every time she opens her mouth we get a glimpse into her narrow little mind.
DeVos and her ilk have a nasty vocabulary to smear anyone who dares to disagree with them.
I think it’s a real disservice to public school students that DeVos consistently portrays public school students as violent, low achievers that other students have to “escape” from.
It’s not fair to them and it isn’t true.
I recognize that she’s an ideological zealot who does not serve public school students because they attend the schools she opposes, but at the very least perhaps she could see her way clear to not attacking them.
Just leave our kids out of this political campaign they’re conducting. It’s bad enough they refuse to lift a finger on behalf of public students. Actually smearing them should be a bridge too far.
There isn’t a public school kid in this country who would know the difference if she stopped showing up for work. She’s irrelevant to 90% of students and families. Leave us out of it.
My favorite Secretary DeVos misstatement was when she declared HBCUs as the pioneers of school choice.
“Secretary Betsy DeVos
I was grateful to discuss #EducationFreedom opportunities with #PrivateSchoolLeadership gathered yesterday at
@usedgov
. Across America, 5.8M students exercise #EducationFreedom and attend private schools that meet their unique, individual needs.”
Public schools (once again) excluded from the US Department of Education.
Anyone know why we’re paying hundreds of millions of dollars to pay these people when they refuse to work on behalf of 90% of students?
Are public school leaders, teachers or students permitted inside the US Department of Education anymore? Or have they been banished for not meeting the ed reform echo chamber’s ideological requirements?
Public school students need not apply. Not welcome.
Perhaps the next time we elect a President we could consider hiring one who actually supports the schools 90% of students and families attend.
If we keep hiring these ridiculous, coddled SNOBS who have never entered a public school or even had a job their family didn’t hand them we will continue to get education policy that ignores the 90% of students who attend public schools.
She has contempt not just for public school teachers but also public school students. It’s appalling.
Which Democratic candidates attended public schools?
I know Bernie and Warren did. Any others?
Check out this article:
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/05/29/where-the-presidential-candidates-went-to-school.html
Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s husband is a private school teacher.
The Koch’s Scott Walker is in a more conservative church than the church his father pastored.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 9-18-2019, “Cristo Rey Jesuit High School breaks ground on $33 mil. school on Milwaukees South Side. … In 2017, St. Augustine Prep opened the 1st phase of a planned $85,000,000 campus.”
Desperation- using religion to control people, corporatize education ala Bill Gates and, to eliminate democracy, all paid for with taxpayer vouchers.
yes: using “religion” to control where the money ends up
Democracy’s enemies are exposed at the National Catholic Reporter, 12-21-2017, “Conservative Donors Aim to Shape…”
NCR identifies those who fund the sickening attack on public education.
A slew of governors like Walker, Brownback and Bevin, all answering to a “higher power”, and picking up Koch money for services rendered.
Shout out to Cath-evangelists, the Neo-religion.
“I haven’t changed. The people around me have changed.”
That describes my experience with the entire political zeitgeist over my lifetime
DeVos, like Trump, relies on the “Ignorance” card. Everyone that supports Trump does so based on confirmation bias and deliberate ignorance.
They DO NOT want to know the truth based on reality/history and facts.
Therefore, DeVos also spews lies from her shotgun mouth to her limited audience because it has worked and keeps working for The Emperor of LIES Donald Trump.
The once and no longer liberal Urban institute (now a billionaires’ think tank) quoted John White in 2017. He said, “Do voucher programs work, is the wrong question to ask. The question is, are there good schools of all governance types available to low-income children.” Now that New Orleans closed it last remaining public school, we see what a fraud the elites are.
You really have no idea what an echo chamber it is until you read ed reform.
Here’s a typical article:
“5 Things We Learned From New Federal Study: Massive Growth of Charters, No Difference in Student Performance From Traditional Schools | The 74”
There is no productive or positive work done, at all, on or for or about public schools. Public students exist ONLY to be used to compare to charter and private school students.
If you’re hiring these people in government this is what you’re getting- 90% of students are completely and utterly ignored.
It’s nuts. We somehow ended up with tens of thousands of public employees who supposedly work on “education” but exclude 90% of US students.
No one notices, because why would they? They’re completely irrelevant to our schools and students. It’s a blank space. A hole where “work” should be.
It’s not just that they believe our schools have no value. They believe our students have no value either. They’re the control for this privatization experiment. It’s the only time they’re mentioned.