The New York Analysis of Policy and Government reviews the politics of the vote to approve the new Secretary of Education
The Democrats’ chances in the 2018 election were almost extinguished yesterday due to their attempt to prevent the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
Oddly enough, it was only the tie-breaking vote by Republican Vice President Mike Pence, which insured the success of President Trump’s nominee, that shielded Democrats from the wrath of parents who have rebelled against attempts to block reform of America’s failing public school system.
DeVos is a staunch advocate of vouchers and charter schools. That enraged the leadership of teachers’ unions, who used their powerful influence within the Democrat Party to mount a drive to stop her approval.
Her home state of Michigan has had charter schools since 1993. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, there 307 charter schools in Michigan.
Devos has also been an advocate for more state and local, rather than federal, control of schools. A support letter signed by twenty governors stated:
“As governors, we know the conditions placed on local schools by the federal government. While state and local governments bear the chief responsibility for funding our K-12 systems, we take issue with many of the mandates imposed on states. That is why we strongly support Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education. Betsy DeVos will fight to streamline the federal education bureaucracy, return authority back to states and local school boards, and ensure that more dollars are reaching the classroom. Betsy DeVos also is a passionate supporter of increasing parental engagement in their children’s education and of harnessing the power of competition to drive improvement in all K-12 schools, whether they be public, private or virtual.”
DeVos was also heavily involved in the passage of a Right to Work bill in Michigan, which won her the opposition of unions throughout the nation.
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The problem for Democrats is that Charter schools and school vouchers are very popular in the U.S., and that popularity extends also to core elements of Democrat Party support.
A survey by Public Charters.org reports that:
“Survey results…showed that…parents across the country (78 percent) favor allowing parents to choose their child’s public school, regardless of where they live. Support is even higher among African-American parents (82 percent), Hispanic parents (84 percent), and low-income parents (86 percent). ‘Parents across the nation are telling us that they want to be able to choose the best public school for their child, and the results from this survey reinforce the demand for more high-quality charter schools,’ said Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. ‘Today, nearly 3 million students are enrolled in about 7,000 charter schools, but there are still numerous students on wait lists. These results should make it clear to our nation’s leaders that they need to make charter school access a priority.’
“Nationwide, support for public school choice among parents outweighs opposition by an almost five-to-one margin (78 percent to 17 percent). Opposition to charter schools, specifically, remains at only 16 percent. “
A Boston Herald report captured the sentiment of many inner city minorities, who are angered at the role of white liberals in opposing school choice. “You are hurting our children — not yours. Do you actually care what happens to little black and brown children? No, you don’t’ said Dawn Foye, a Roxbury mother who sends her son to Kipp Academy in Mattapan.
“Harvard and MIT researchers have issued a number of reports analyzing charter schools in Boston. The most comprehensive report is Kane, Let the Numbers Have Their Say (2016). It covers every issue and concludes: ‘… many charter schools in Boston and other urban areas in Massachusetts are generating gains in achievement that are large enough to close achievement gaps by race and income over time. It is an historic achievement, and it’s no wonder that thousands of students in Boston and other low-income urban centers in the state would prefer such schools over their district schools.’”
The Report concludes tomorrow