Co-published by Newsweek
When the DeVoses’ 164-foot yacht was untied from a Huron, Ohio dock, it was flying a flag of the Cayman Islands.
As the Senate confirmation vote for Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, comes down to the wire, many Arizona education advocates worry that the nominee’s radical priorities will only compound the problems facing a state that already represents a grim vision of what DeVos will push for the rest of the country. The opponents of DeVos are pushing hard to convince Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake to vote against her confirmation.
Arizona is no stranger to DeVos’ program of charter schools, vouchers and deregulation, which allows taxpayer dollars to follow students, regardless of whether it’s for public schools, charter schools, virtual schools, private and religious schools or home-based schools. The solidly Republican state passed its charter law in 1996 and, like many other parts of the country, saw a huge expansion of charter schools, including so-called online virtual academies.
It also has funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to private schools – part of a first-in-the-nation tax credit for private education that was supposed to primarily benefit special needs and low-income students.
Co-published by Newsweek
In her home state of Michigan, Amway heiress Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary, has been a fierce proponent of taxpayer-funded vouchers for private schools, arguing that “choice” would fix the state’s ailing public education system.
Co-published by International Business Times
With Senate confirmation of Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee Betsy DeVos now hanging by the thread of a likely tie-breaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence, one thing is apparent: DeVos’ views on public education are well outside the mainstream of either party.