Mrs. Devos Goes to Washington

Yesterday, while everyone was focused on the Mueller Report, the Green Deal, and the latest developments in the Smollett case, Secretary of Education Betsy Devos took a trip to Capitol Hill to defend next year's budget for the Department of Education. As it stands right now the Trump administration has proposed $7 billion worth of cuts which includes significant cuts to special education programs and a complete defunding of the Special Olympics. Meanwhile, it continues to focus funding on charter schools despite the fact that the government has now lost about $1 billion on failed charter schools.

Among the standout moments were Devos' inability to answer whether or not schools should be able to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity:

POCAN: Do you think it’s all right for a school to discriminate based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity?

DeVOS: We have laws that cover discriminatory efforts, and our Office for Civil Rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of discrimination and will continue to do so.

POCAN: So is that a yes or is that a no? I’m trying to get a yes or no, I guess, on that.

DeVOS: We follow the law as defined. …

POCAN (interrupts her): So personally, you don’t have an opinion on it? … Because you are giving money to some charter schools that do discriminate. …

Source

It should be noted that this was not the first time she has been able to answer this question. When asked a similar question back in 2017 she similarly deflected.

Another noteworthy moment came when she was asked about funding for the Special Olympics and special education in general:

When Pocan asked whether she knew how many children would be affected by the elimination of federal funding to the Special Olympics, DeVos said she did not know.

"I’ll answer it for you, that's OK, no problem," Pocan said. "It’s 272,000 kids that are affected."

DeVos responded, "I think that the Special Olympics is an awesome organization, one that is well supported by the philanthropic sector as well."

Pocan at that point interrupted the education secretary to point out that the proposed budget includes a 26 percent reduction to state grants for special education and millions of dollars in cuts to programs for students who are blind.

After referring to his own nephews with autism, Pocan asked DeVos, "What is it that we have a problem with, with children who are in special education?"

She replied, “Supporting children with special needs, we have continued to hold that funding at a level amount and in the context of a budget proposal that is a 10 percent reduction."

The congressman stopped DeVos and claimed she was not answering his question.

Source

It should also be noted that she had no answer for how the department planned to recoup the $1 billion it had lost through charter schools.

It's been said since the day she was nominated, Betsy DeVos has absolutely no business running the DoE. If one wants to see how "successful" her education policies are just look at Detroit. She actually managed to make that school system worse. The only reason she got this position is because her family are one of the largest donors to the GOP. Apparently the Republicans don't think our children's education is worth more than campaign contributions.

DeVos has shown time and again that she is not fit for this job and it's time for her to go.

It's hard to drain a swamp when all that money keeps clogging the drain.

Seems obvious as to why she is got the buy the position - covering the charter schools issue.

a reply to: Xcalibur254


They've ( Amway ) have had long experience in blurring the lines.

When is an MLM company not a pyramid scheme?

Only when its called Amway - bought a lot of politicians off to avoid being shaken-up

Considering the failures of the Department of Education since its promotion from an Office/Bureau, it has shown time and time again that it needs to be dismantled and decreased in power.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Among the standout moments were Devos' inability to answer whether or not schools should be able to discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity:

Is quality of education even an issue? Fanatically protecting students' gender identity rights is far more important. No wonder America is consistently dropping in academic achievement.

a reply to: ColeYounger

So not every child deserves an equal education. According to DeVos, charter schools are the way to improve education in this country. Yet, it has also been shown that there are charter schools, that receive federal funding by the way, discriminating on the students they accept based on sexual orientation.

Why should children of non-traditional sexual orientation/gender identity be given a lesser education? That essentially harkens back to the days of "separate but equal."

a reply to: roadgravel

Yep. The woman who bribed her way into her government oversight position is now launching an investigation into rich people to who pay bribes to get their children into colleges! You just can't make this stuff up!

originally posted by: Xcalibur254
a reply to: ColeYounger
Yet, it has also been shown that there are charter schools, that receive federal funding by the way, discriminating on the students they accept based on sexual orientation.

Example? I found links to charter schools that filtered out illegal aliens / non-native speakers and kids who are not academically gifted but nothing on how attractive they find boys and girls.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

Devos wants to do with education like Prince want's to do with wars.... Privatize.

She's a critter who has no place in her spot.

the charter schools in my area offer the best educations, so which charter schools are the failed ones and why?

the special Olympics is needed for able bodies kids as much as disabled - teaches empathy and understanding. shameful, just shameful, can we sink any lower under this administration..