Trump’s nominee for education secretary, Betsy DeVos, has spent three decades advocating for education policies that will pull low-income children out of cyclical poverty. Despite this, Democrats are sensationalizing her nomination in a continued attempt to undermine the Trump administration at all costs – even when the cost is America’s children.
As we wrap up National School Choice Week, here are the biggest claims against DeVos and why they are nonsense:
1-She has never been a public school teacher.
True. However, only one of the last four education secretaries to serve under Democratic presidents was a K-12 teacher. Even further, less than half of education secretaries in the last three decades were teachers. This sudden pre-requisite of classroom experience is especially hilarious, considering the one Democratic educator mentioned by the media is the most recent education secretary, John King Jr., and the state of education under Obama is abysmal. Just ask a millennial – average student loan debt is now over $37,000.
2-Her performance at the Senate hearing sucked.
Some truth here, she definitely flubbed some answers. What sucked worse, however, were questions from senators like Al Franken (D-MN) as he demanded to know her stance on conversion therapy for gays. Hint: she has never supported this and that was already public record. Sen. Murphy (D-CT) asked her if guns should be allowed in schools. Her answer, while not delivered swimmingly, was that this controversial issue is probably best left to local schools. Further, since the year 1996, guns have been banned within 1,000 feet of schools – this did not stop the Newtown shooting. As we know, ‘gun-free zones’ do not work.
It isn’t hearing performance Democrats are really concerned about – liberals are afraid to unravel the control that large unions, like the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), currently enjoy. The AFT alone gave nearly $10 million in political contributions during the 2016 cycle, and more than 98 percent of those donations at the federal level were exclusively to Democrats. In total, they spent at least $16 million on political activity, and that’s after they paid their president a salary of half a million dollars. And this doesn’t include hundreds of thousands of dollars the AFT has given to the Clinton Foundation.
3-She has spent millions to influence education policy in her home state of Michigan.
Good! What was she supposed to do, buy a yacht instead? While the AFT pushes for the status-quo, DeVos is passionate about educating our youth to the highest standards, so she concentrated her wealth and used it to promote this point of view. Big-money influence should be noted and criticized where appropriate, but the liberal spin here is ridiculous – this woman used her own personal wealth in an attempt to push policies that help children. And as education secretary she will take a salary of $1.
Criticisms of DeVos are driven by fear. Liberal Democrats are afraid to lose their stranglehold on education rhetoric and alienate their big-money donors like the AFT. If President Trump and Devos are able to implement successful school choice policies, children will benefit. The Senate should vote to confirm DeVos on Jan. 31 – and millennials will be thrilled to finally see competitive schools, lowered tuition and successful poverty alleviation.
