Don’t confirm DeVos

As a retired public school teacher, I care deeply about our children and the quality of public education. That’s why I’m asking people to contact their senators to ask them not to confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.

DeVos is woefully unqualified for the job. She has never been a public school educator or even worked in a public school.

She is determined to privatize our schools to push her extreme religious agenda. She also appears to be helping her wealthy friends and herself profit from taxpayers’ money as the state of Michigan subsidizes her schools. All this is done at the expense of our children’s education. There are many unanswered questions about her school businesses.

Her efforts to push for-profit charter schools in Michigan have not shown the results she promised. Those charter schools are under-performing. She also has been effective at blocking any local oversight of these schools. Why would we want this failed experiment on a national level?

Her rhetoric about “school choice” seems to be a guise for removing the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state from public schools. I find this and other breaches of the law alarming.

And there would be few, if any, safeguards to ensure the education of kids with special needs.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Don’t confirm DeVos."