Confirmation Hearings - Secretary of Education: Betsy DeVos

[tanaqui]

Nomination of Betsy DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education

When: UPDATED: now Tuesday 17 January from 5:00pm Wednesday 11 January from 10:00am

Committee Members: (as at 6 Jan) Chairman: Senator Lamar Alexander (TN), Senator Michael B. Enzi (R - WY), Senator Richard Burr (R - NC), Senator Johnny Isakson (R - GA), Senator Rand Paul (R - KY), Senator Susan M. Collins (R - ME), Senator Bill Cassidy (R - LA), Senator Todd Young (R - IN), Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R- UT), Senator Pat Roberts (R - KS), Senator Lisa Murkowski (R - AK), Senator Tim Scott (R - SC), Ranking Member: Senator Patty Murray (D - WA), Senator Bernard Sanders (D - VT), Senator Robert P. Casey (D - PA), Senator Al Franken (D - MN), Senator Michael F. Bennet (D - CO), Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D - RI), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D - WI), Senator Christopher Murphy (D - CT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D - MA), Senator Tim Kaine (D - VA), Senator Margaret Wood Hassan (D - NH)

What the committee should be concerned about: Betsy DeVos is a billionaire and conservative activist for "school choice", who has promoted charter schools, and worked to expand voucher programs that give families taxpayer dollars to pay for private and religious schools, directing public funds away from public schools. She is deeply embedded in Republican politics in her home state of Michigan, having served twice as chair of the Michigan GOP, while her husband ran for governor in 2006.

Thanks in part to DeVos's influence, Michigan's charter schools are now among the least regulated in the country, with the net result that, as the the New York Times reports, "As the state embraced and then expanded charters over the past two decades, its rank has fallen on national reading and math tests." A federal review in 2015 found “an unreasonably high” percentage of charter schools on the list of the state’s lowest-performing schools. And the overall number of charter schools on the list had doubled since 2010, after the passage of a law pushed by a group financed by Ms. DeVos where a provision that would have prevented failing schools from expanding or replicating was blocked. According to the New York Times, "Even Republican supporters of charter schools say the law has allowed failing charter schools to expand or replicate."

DeVos also appears to be ready to do what she can to support Trump's rejection during the campaign of the Common Core, the shared learning standards adopted by most states in recent years. Despite being on the board of at least one organisation that promotes the Common Core, DeVos has gone on the record as saying she is "not a supporter — period.".

Suggested script for calling representatives: "Hi, my name is ________, and I'm a constituent of the Senator. I want to let the Senator know that I object to Betsy deVos as our next Secretary of Education because her promotion of school vouchers and charter schools in her home state of Michigan has resulted in falling standards in maths and reading in that state. Ms DeVos's reckless disregard for the impact of her policies on students and the quality of their education makes her entirely unsuited to lead education policy nationally, and she should therefore not be our next Secretary of Education.

Please use the comments to suggest more reasons why the committee should reject the nomination and to suggest amendments to the calling script.

Comments

[teaotter]

The De Vos hearing has been postponed, apparently to the 17th at 5 pm.

5 pm? They're starting a hearing at 5 pm? How late do they plan to go that day?

[tanaqui]

Thanks for the update on this one as well! (The senate.gov page hasn't caught up yet.Also, having reduced the 5 hearings on Wednesday to 3, they now apparently have 5 on Thursday instead.)

They're starting a hearing at 5 pm?

Maybe they think she's just going to get waved through with no argument....

[teaotter]

For the record, DeVos's ethics paperwork still isn't up at the OGE website.

They might have it done and not yet posted -- that takes about 24 hours -- but I'm not seeing any information about it.

[tanaqui]

Thanks for the heads up on this and also on Wilbur Ross - I'll keep an eye on the hearings schedule and update the posts if the hearings are postponed again.

(And this is what happens if you try to appoint obnoxious billionnaires with complex business holdings....)