The Department of Education has always had the goal of fundamental reforms that will benefit students of all ages and their families and help create a workforce that can compete with any in the world economy for decades to come, but big changes appear to be on the horizon.
Introducing Betsy DeVos
Our new education secretary is Betsy DeVos. She is a billionaire and was the former Republican Party chairwoman in Michigan. She has been a shining light to members of the movement to privatize public education by working to create programs and pass laws that require the use of public funds to pay for private school tuition in the form of vouchers and similar programs. Public education advocates say that they fear she will help propel America’s public education system toward destruction.
Stephen Henderson, the editorial page editor of the Detroit Free Press, speaking of the Detroit school system has described it as “deeply dysfunctional educational landscape”… It was created by an ideological lobby that has zealously championed free-market education reform for decades, with little regard for the outcome. And at the center of that lobby is Betsy DeVos the west Michigan advocate whose family has contributed millions of dollars to the cause of school choice and unregulated charter expansion throughout Michigan.
DeVos’ Background and Influence
DeVos isn’t an educator or an educational leader, nor is she an expert in pedagogy, curriculum, or school governance. In fact, she has no relevant credentials or experience for a job setting standards and guiding dollars for the nation’s public schools.
She is, in essence, a lobbyist — someone who has used her extraordinary wealth to influence the conversation about education reform and to bend that conversation to her ideological convictions. For 20 years, the lobby her family bankrolls have propped up the billion-dollar charter school industry and insulated it from commonsense oversight, even as charter schools repeatedly failed to deliver on their promises to parents and children.
If you’re a Department of Education employee and are concerned about job stability and occupational difficulties during this shift from public education to private contact us at Harris Federal Law Firm, maybe we can help. Call us at 877-226-2723 or fill out this INQUIRY form.
