Betsy DeVos and her Husband have a long history of promoting Charter Schools in Michigan . They have donated Millions in an effort to promote these for Profit schools . The Gop have long painted these schools as a low cost alternative to our current public school system. To tell the truth these for profit schools are, to borrow a phrase from( Donald Trump ,Our Soon to be Criminal in Chief) a total disaster. One only needs to look to Ohio for a good look at how costly and dangerous these schools are to Tax Payers and Our Children.
In a recent story on Pilitico
KIMBERLY HEFLING writes
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is an avid proponent of school choice, but his home state’s notoriously problematic charter school sector is often held up as an example of what can go wrong.
In the last year, he successfully pushed for revisions to Ohio’s charter school oversight, but the sector remains embroiled in scandal.
At the epicenter is David Hansen, Kasich’s former charter school chief, who resigned last summer after acknowledging that he didn’t include the grades of online charter schools in ratings of their oversight agencies. The online schools are generally low-performing and have ties to GOP donors, which led critics to pounce. And Hansen is married to Beth Hansen, who is Kasich’s campaign manager for his bid to be the next president.
I have read many such stories over the years of how charter schools will open their doors, accept federal dollars , many times in the hundreds of millions of dollars , and end up closing their doors even before the end of the first school year.
You can read the rest of this Ohio charter school story right here Charter school scandal haunts John Kasich.
As for Betsy DeVos, I recently watched as she was grilled .
- failed to answer basic questions about public education and appeared to be completely unaware of the federal laws that govern education policy, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
- She defended guns in schools in order to fend off grizzly bear attacks. (Not hyperbole -- that was her actual answer when asked if guns should be permitted in schools.)
- Like so many of Trump's nominees, DeVos is a wealthy donor to Republicans -- and her vast financial entanglements include companies, like one which refinances student loans, that have the potential to win or lose based on decisions she could make as Secretary of Education.
- In her home state of Michigan, she installed a charter school system that even charter advocates have called "the biggest school reform disaster in the country."
- Unlike previous nominees to this position, DeVos has never been an educator, nor did she attend public schools or send her own children to them. Her background reshaping Michigan's school system suggests that she will advance policies that would steer taxpayer dollars away from public schools serving the poorest students and instead toward vouchers for private or religious schools.
- DeVos and her family have also donated money to a host of far-right religious organizations and has a troubling anti-LGBT history, which raises serious concerns about her commitment to protecting the safety and educational experience of all students.
Please speak out to your local and federal Reps . Tell them your fears about confirming her for any role in our school system.
Resist…...