There’s a lot to get through here. We’ll start with the basics.
One of the biggest debates in education and standardized testing is whether we measure for proficiency (meeting a benchmark) or growth (progress made). This is basic education debate. B.A.S.I.C. And Betsy DeVos has no idea what these words mean. That disqualifies her immediately.
If you watched the video above you’ll see that DeVos has no idea what she’s talking about on a number of education issues.
So many of her answers stunned me. Here’s a synopsis. (Via: Yahoo and h/t to Steve Newton for drawing my attention to this article through his FB post!)
- When pressed by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, DeVos would not commit to maintaining the same or a higher level of federal funding for public schools.
- She told Sen. Bob Casey she would “review” federal regulations that govern sexual assault allegations on college campuses.
- DeVos told Sen. Elizabeth Warren that she would also review the department’s gainful employment rule, which revokes federal funding for colleges whose graduates have low employment rates — an Obama-era crackdown on for-profit colleges.
- She said states should decide whether all schools — charter and public — should be required to meet the needs of kids with disabilities.
That’s quite a list. Looks like she’s open to lowering federal funding of public schools, not too concerned about sexual assault on college campuses, is all for for-profit colleges and…
Doesn’t think children with disabilities deserve a public education. That’s not hyperbole. Her stance on this makes educating children with disabilities optional. Who thinks like this? Answer: A monster.
Of course, I think she’s focusing on letting charter schools off the hook when they deny admittance to children with disabilities, because that’s a big part of the secret sauce of successful charters. The one thing you know about charter school advocates like Betsy DeVos is that all roads lead to charters and privatization, because no one who truly cared about children would so cavalierly dismiss children with disabilities.
The truth is she hasn’t studied education and doesn’t know a damn thing – other than getting her and her associates hands on all that education money. There’s your next financial bubble, folks. Once again, we’ll follow the money once this blows up.
I’ll leave you with this gem:
DeVos also said she believed states and local governments should be able to decide whether to allow civilians in schools to be armed. When pressed on that by Sen. Christopher Murphy of Connecticut, she explained that in a rural school in Wyoming, for example, “I would imagine that there’s probably a gun in that school to protect from potential grizzlies.” She added that her “heart bleeds” for victims of gun violence.
Grizzly Bears? She cited grizzly bears – with a straight face. That’s her reason why civilians in schools should be armed? Are alligators the reason in Florida? Scorpions in Arizona? If she really believes this nonsense, then may I suggest a building a wall?
I. Can’t. Even.
She will be confirmed, I think. The GOP will close ranks and they have the votes, and at least 1-2 Democrats will cross the aisle. What’s truly disgusting here is that even (as US Senator) Jeff Sessions endorsed IDEA and chided Congress for never fully funding it. When you are south of Jeff Sessions, you’re saying something.
Her “plan” for children with disabilities is pure evil (and I rarely use that word).
I’m sure she’ll be confirmed. There are so many appointment nightmares right now, and education always gets brushed aside. Which is really shortsighted given how much education impacts all the other issues. An uneducated public gives us Trump and the GOP.
She may well be confirmed, as noted a few DINOS will doubtless join the parade. But she will be a lightning rod for criticism thru out her tenure, and judging from what I’ve seen she will neither “grow into ” the office nor learn to stay out of the public eye. Which leads to the question are Trumps appointees for real, or are they decoys to divert attention away from Trump himself.
@bamboozer–it doesn’t matter if she’s a lightning rod or not. Arne Duncan wasn’t beloved by anybody, was controversial as hell, and we are still dealing with the consequences of his ruinous tenure as Sec Ed. DeVos will be able to get NAZI (National Assessment with Zero Integration) through a GOP congress in the first six months. She can roll back Title IX protections for women in schools and/or on campus by regulatory fiat. She can change Federal funding formulas on all sorts of initiatives without Congressional approval by simply re-weighting “innovation” to exclusively consist of charter, on-line, and home schools. She can even gut IDEA and 504s by simply eliminating the majority of funding for the enforcement apparatus (once that goes away there is no motivation for the States to comply with the law, and they won’t). Oklahoma’s law that already allows public schools to dump special needs students (forever!) into private programs will become a national standard. She can do far more damage far faster than almost any other cabinet appointee.
Yep, yep, yep. My bet is that all these things will happen – quickly.
(Now I need a drink.)
Senator Franken is a big, fat NO on DeVos.