Meet Betsy DeVos

In a move to fulfill at least one of his campaign promises this week, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen billionaire heiress and market-based school reformer Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.

“For nearly 30 years, as a philanthropist, activist and Republican fund-raiser, she has pushed to give families taxpayer money in the form of vouchers to attend private and parochial schools, pressed to expand publicly funded but privately run charter schools, and tried to strip teacher unions of their influence.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/betsy-devos-trumps-education-pick-has-steered-money-from-public-schools.html?_r=0

School vouchers only cover some tuition, and poor families generally can’t afford to pay the difference. Critics argue this leads to a tiered system, where children from wealthier families can attend clean, well-equipped, generously-staffed schools that offer broad, arts-infused curricula.

“The other, a parallel system of ‘fly by night’ virtual and online ‘schools’ that open and close seemingly at random, and for-profit charters operated by scam artists like Northern Michigan’s Dr. Steve Ingersoll, with little to no state or federal regulation or oversight, and a bare bones, ‘back to the basics’ curriculum delivered by unqualified and uncertified ‘teachers’.” http://www.eclectablog.com/2016/11/trump-names-betsy-devos-as-secretary-of-education-its-game-set-match-for-public-education.html

Trump has proposed directing $20 billion to fund his school voucher program. But federal spending accounts for less than nine percent of schools budgets nationwide. The other $110 billion needed for his proposal would have to come from largely Republican-controlled state governments.

“[E]ven if Ms. DeVos were to find a willing governor and state legislature, it’s not that easy. Roughly half of all nonfederal education funding comes from local property taxes raised by over 13,000 local school districts. They and their elected representatives will have a say, too.” http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/upshot/why-donald-trumps-education-pick-would-face-barriers-for-vouchers.html

Conservatives have also raised concerns about DeVos. Skeptical of her newly found repudiation of Common Core State Standards, they worry she’d be an overreaching education secretary.

“Her forms of manipulative bait-n-switch ‘school choice’ degrade the market by replacing one set of monopolies with another one they control. That’s not school choice. That’s bureaucrat choice. In other words, same old, same old.” https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/11/betsy-devos-as-education-secretary-what-you-need-to-know-about-trumps-pick

To date, the president-elect has chosen an openly racist career politician for attorney general, a billionaire vulture capitalist to lead the commerce department, and a billionaire political insider for education secretary.

Makes you wonder: What’s going to build on top of that swamp after he drains it?