Many teachers unions members and other liberals are expecting the worst from President-elect Trump’s administration. On education, some fear the worst for public schools. But one quote should help put the situation in context and quell their fears.
“The vast majority of students in this country will continue to attend public schools.”
That’s what Trump’s pick to lead the Education Department, Betsy DeVos, said at her confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
No matter what Trump, DeVos and the GOP Congress might do on education over the next two-to-eight years, the vast majority of students will continue to attend public schools. There might be increased support for school choice policies and more students might leave public schools and choose private schools, but as DeVos said, the vast majority of students will still be in public schools.
Trump, DeVos and the GOP don’t want to destroy public education. They don’t want to abolish public schools. They believe parents should be able to choose a school for their child, but that doesn’t mean every public school will go under.
“Too many parents are denied access to the full range of [educational] options,” DeVos said Tuesday. She believes there should be a wide range of educational options, including public schools. “In the past 28 years, the need and the demand for these other options have grown unabated. … It’s time to shift [the] debate from what the system thinks is best, to what parents want, need and deserve.”
As of the 2013-14 school year, 90.3 percent of students attended public schools. DeVos did say students would stay in “public schools,” which in her mind surely includes public charter schools and public magnet schools. Critics sometimes don’t consider charters to be public schools. But of the 54.5 million students in all types of public schools, more than 90 percent still attend traditional public schools.
The rest of DeVos’ quote is worth reading. “If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools,” she started. “But, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child — perhaps they have a special need that is going unmet — we should support a parent’s right to enroll their child in a high quality alternative.”
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
