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Monday, January 23, 2017

Resistance: Candidate for Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos is currently being considered for the cabinet position Secretary of Education. If approved, she will be the head of the U.S. Department of Education and serve as the principal adviser to the President on federal policies and programs related to education in the United States.

Betsy DeVos is a strong advocate for private education. She supports public funding for private, for-profit schools that are unregulated and exempt from state oversight, with no accountability or transparency for educational standards. Civil rights groups, including the NAACP has expressed concern that low-income students and non-white students suffer when there is little to no oversight of education standards.

DeVos is a member of the board, Foundation for Excellence in Education, which supports controversial Common Core standards. Her actions have cut funding to public schools, reducing access to free public education for children in Michigan. Due to her efforts, 80% of Michigan’s schools are for-profit. (Source: Washington Post, "A Sobering  Look At What Betsy Devos Did to Education in Michigan)

In Senate hearings last week, DeVos demonstrated a clear lack of understanding of the basic needs of our children’s education system.

Contact your senator today: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Washington State Senators:

Maria Cantwell
Phone: (202) 224-3441

Patty Murray
Phone (202) 224-2621

Transcript for phone/email:
Hello Senator _____,
Please vote NO on Betsy DeVos, nominee for Secretary of Education.
America’s economic future depends on an educated, skilled workforce. Our public-school system ensures that everyone, regardless of income, has access to an education. Please support our teachers and students by voting NO on Betsy DeVos, who would funnel federal funding away from public schools to unregulated, for-profit organizations.
Sincerely,

(Your Name)

1 comment:

  1. I checked out the website of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, because I was interested in what you meant by controversial common core standards. I, myself, support a national curriculum of some sort. On the main page for the Foundation for Excellence in Education is the mission statement which reads: to build an American education system that equips every child to achieve his or her God-given potential.

    Nope. That statement tells me what I need to know about that foundation.

    This nomination is an excellent example of how people who are not experts in education (most of the county) think they know how education should be done.

    Thanks for the info.

    ReplyDelete