Secretary of Education nominee Betsy DeVos had her Senate confirmation hearing last Tuesday for yet another hot Trump administration nominee that had Democrats and Republicans sharply divided.
Apart from the hundreds of ethical concerns that have yet to be thoroughly investigated. Examples include DeVos’s donations of hundreds of millions of dollars to GOP lawmakers, openness to allowing guns on all school campuses, refusing to commit to stricter policing of campus sexual assault and complete lack of experience with public education itself, the main point of contention surrounding DeVos’s nomination is her promotion of privatizing schools with a lack of governmental oversight in advocating for more school choices for parents.
DeVos’s only experience with the education field is through spending her own money in donations to different legislatures and organizations to persuade them to create legislation on charter schools and vouchers.
Her million-dollar funding in her home state Michigan has created a deregulated charter program that critics say is the root of Detroit’s issues and charter advocates acknowledge it as a disaster.
Offering charter programs as part of school choice has worked well in some instances, but often has many shortcomings. Charters, which are publicly funded yet independently controlled schools, create a lack of general oversight by privatizing and fracturing the education industry within their municipalities.
However, charter schools in New Orleans have done pretty well because of good oversight. Unfortunately, DeVos prefers a hands-off approach to charters in Detroit. This makes New Orleans charter schools exceptions and not positive indicators of education’s future under DeVos. Under DeVos, any hope advocates may hold for charters will fail under DeVos.
Vouchers, another favorite of DeVos’s, have had dismal results in New Orleans and other areas. A 2016 study from the University of Arkansas and the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans at Tulane shows that students who switch schools with voucher funding end up doing worse academically.
Vouchers also help defund public schools by giving select students public funding to go to private schools instead of public ones. Funding is reduced for whatever public schools the students left , hurting the students who remain enrolled at those schools. No one wins when vouchers are used except those who get the extra money at private schools.
The possibility that DeVos will take private education in a positive direction is highly unlikely and many worry about the effects on underprivileged communities that are hit the hardest when public schools are underfunded.
Questions of how to structure federal funds and how she would hold institutions accountable came up repeatedly in DeVos’ hearing.
Dr. Kenneth Fasching-Varner, associate professor in the University’s School of Education , agrees that the impacts on marginalized communities are discouraging.
Fasching-Varner says that “the education reform industrial complex is a multi-billion dollar industry which benefits the private sector and fails to bring about change,” and that for-profit schools operating within the public sphere “should warrant closer attention from across the spectrum of beliefs and orientations.”
Fasching-Varner agrees with the prevailing sentiment that DeVos “does not present qualifications that enhance trustworthiness over her ability to lead [the education department]” but also points out that what DeVos aims to do if chosen for the department is not in conflict with how the Department of Education has acted in years past.
Fasching-Varner referenced past secretary of education Arne Duncan as an example; Duncan received backlash from both liberals and conservatives after he used billions of federal dollars to entice schools into controversial changes in the classrooms.
And with DeVos, a champion of what many critics call “ideology over evidence,” American education will continue to decline as public funds funneled into outrageous practices that have little evidence for success.
Ryan Thaxton is a 20-year-old sophomore from Monroe, Louisiana.