By Nicky Boyette – President-elect Donald Trump announced his choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, a billionaire from Michigan who has campaigned for diverting public school funds in Michigan to support private and charter schools.
Superintendent Bryan Pruitt of the Eureka Springs School District commented, “She goes along with what Trump said during his campaign, and that is to push toward vouchers, charter schools, private schools and school choice. I’m not opposed to the concept, but my question is what will be the effect on public schools?”
Douglas N. Harris wrote in his Nov. 25 article in the New York Times “Betsy DeVos and the Wrong Way to Fix Schools,” that as one of the architects of Detroit’s charter school system, “she is partly responsible for what even charter school advocates acknowledge is the biggest school reform disaster in the country.” He goes on to report that of the urban communities which participate in rigorous testing of academic skills, “Detroit is not only the lowest in this group of lowest-performing districts on the math and reading scores, it is the lowest by far.”
Pruitt said he read that DeVos is against Common Core. He acknowledged there are improvements to be made with Common Core, but the concept behind it “is a good thing in theory.” He noted the intent is a student could leave Eureka Springs and move to Buffalo, New York, and pick up at the same place academically.
Behind Common Core, Pruitt said, is federal oversight which allows for “fair and equal and appropriate education wherever you go.” He said it would be worth watching to see if DeVos, if she is confirmed, stays with federal control of a common curriculum.
Pruitt is concerned with possible conflicts related to a push toward charter and private schools at the expense of public school funding. “One of my issues I’d be concerned with is we’ve got to have the best resources, the best teachers for our schools, and we’re going to do that. But it all boils down to money and politics.”
He pointed out the regulations are different for charter and private schools. “They can hire people we can’t hire… the rules are different.” He said charter schools are not bound by the certification requirements that the Eureka School District must abide by, and they can pay teachers less or even more. He agreed the idea of school choice sounds good and parents should be able to take their kids wherever they want to go, but 70-80 percent of students cannot afford to go anywhere but public schools.
“If they pull funding from public schools, that will get our attention,” Pruitt said. “However, if they give more power back to the states, I’ll like that, but it’s anybody’s guess what will happen.”
Lisa Graves wrote in her November 27 Common Dreams article “5 Things to Know about Billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump Education Choice,” that a particular focus for DeVos is deregulating and privatizing the education system through vouchers. She has poured money into right-wing organizations such as the American Federation for Children and the Alliance for School Choice as a way to influence local governments to adopt her privatization agenda.
Graves quotes National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia as stating that DeVos’s “efforts over the years have done more to undermine public education than support students. She has lobbied for failed schemes, like vouchers – which take away funding and local control from our public schools – to fund private schools at taxpayers’ expense.”
Garcia went on to say, “She has consistently pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions to public education. By nominating DeVos, the Trump administration has demonstrated just how out of touch it is with what works best for students, parents, educators and communities.”
In her article, Graves also pointed out, “DeVos has approached the issue of education as a religious issue,” and she “wants to change the law to reflect her personal views.” DeVos wrote in an article for the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, “My family is the largest single contributor of soft money to the national Republican party.” When asked about whether she was trying to buy influence, she remarked, “We expect a return on our investment.”
Pruitt said he sees a problem if public schools become embroiled in a competitive business model. If school districts have to compete for funds like businesses compete for customers, the focus moves away from education. “My attention is on public schools,” he said. “Education is based on hard work. People need to respect that.”