Facing her confirmation hearing, 59-year-old Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos needs to stop trashing public schools and show that she can govern a full mix of public and private schools. Sitting on the board of Foundation for Excellence in Education and former Chairwoman of Alliance of School Choice, DeVos has long history of advocating school choice in the Detroit area, backing voucher programs to give families a choice between public, charter, private or parochial schools. While there’s nothing wrong with DeVos’ personal views on school choice, she must face the reality of Education Secretary or withdraw her nomination. Over 90% of school-aged children in the United State use public education. There’s simply no place for the U.S. Education Secretary to slam public education. As long as voucher programs don’t detract from public education funding, it’s no problem.
Stepping into Education Secretary DeVos can’t let her personal bias for vouchers, charter, private and parochial schools color her thinking about U.S. public education. Whether there’s “failing” public schools doesn’t mean that public education per se is the problem. There’s not an inner city public school in America that doesn’t need more funding or resources, including highly motivated and trained teachers. Nowhere in the U.S. education system are teachers more needed than in the inner cities. It’s one thing to back charters schools or school vouchers, it’s another to trash public education when it’s responsive for over 90% of K-12 education. “Why in 2017, are we still questioning parents’ ability to exercise educational choice for their children?” asked DeVos, in a statement for her confirmation hearing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
School choice has been a favorite buzzword since the Reagan administration, signaling to those frustrated with the public schools a viable option to inner city education. In reality, school vouchers provide only a fraction of the cash needed to support private or parochial schools. DeVos pioneered the Detroit Community Charter School system, with only Brightmoor High School remaining. However well intentioned, whether public, charter, private or parochial, it’s difficult to educate youth in America’s inner cities. Tulane University Education Professor Douglas H. Harris called DeVos foray into charter schools “what even charter advocates acknowledge is the biggest charter reform disaster in the country.” Whether that’s true or not, it shows how charter school education is no panacea for the inner cities. Only better teacher education, training and curriculum development can do that.
Serving as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, DeVos knows the GOP talking points, pushing for more charter schools and vouchers. Serving as Education Secretary, DeVos must understand her first priority is properly funding and fixing public education. Handing out vouchers or promoting more charters schools won’t get public education back on the right track. Princeton University graduate 49-year-old Wendy Kopp thought she found in 1989 the answer to fixing public education founding Teach For America. Kopp had much support for former President Bill Clinton to develop an army of the brightest college graduates to make two-year teaching commitments. One minor problem, they had no teacher education or training. Kopp’s TFA provided a six-week crash course in teaching, clearly not enough, with most of the recruits dropping out after two years.
To serve as Education Secretary, DeVos must dedicate herself to improving public education. Calling herself a “strong advocate for great public schools,” DeVos must show more than slogans about vouchers and school choice. DeVos has expressed support for developing more “craftsmanship” or trade training in high schools and community colleges. Believing in local control of education, DeVos opposes Common Core, a federal program designed to blueprint standards in K-12 education. While there’s nothing wrong with local control, the Education Department has its place in recommending standardized curriculum to state education departments. “The answer is local control and listening to parents, students and teachers,” said DeVos, knowing that education experts must set the standards and let local school districts pick and choose what’s appropriate for local communities.
Serving as Education Secretary, DeVos can have her opinions about charter schools and school choice but her first priority must be to strengthen public education. If there’s strong opposition to DeVos, she hasn’t reassured national teachers unions and associations about her commitment to public education. Whether or not DeVos succeeded or failed with her charter schools in Detroit, she must convince the Senate Health and Education Committee that she’s ready to devote herself to fixing America’s public school system, especially in the inner cities. It’s one thing to support vouchers or charter schools but another to devote herself to the public schools responsible for educating 90% of American youth. “I believe Betsy DeVos has the talent, commitment and leadership capacity to revitalize our public schools . . “ said Eva Moskowitz, CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools.
