In an unprecedented development, Vice President Mike Pence was called to the Senate to break a 50-50 tie and confirm Betsy DeVos to be the next Secretary of Education. DeVos is a right-wing extremist, and a noted opponent of public education and LGBTQ rights.
Pence had to break the tie in the confirmation vote, something a vice president has never had to do before, because of the grassroots outpouring of opposition from teachers, students and community members. While it did not secure victory in the end, it is a model for the type of united mobilization needed to save public education.
Far-right and clueless
Given the extreme nature of, and widespread opposition to, Trump’s Cabinet nominees, from Jeff Sessions’ history of being even too racist for 1986 Senate Republicans to Michael Flynn’s belief in the bogus white supremacist “clash of civilizations” paradigm, it has come as somewhat of a surprise that DeVos is reported to have generated the most public outcry.
However, her nearly 3-decade-long self-described “war” to advance the “Kingdom of God,” through diverting public education dollars to far-right, private, “Christian” schools, and degrading teacher unions in the process, places her in common company with the most extreme right-wing ideologues in the cabinet.
The anti-DeVos outcry is well-deserved. DeVos, a likely co-author of Trump’s proposal to divert $20 billion to not only for-profit charter schools, but private religious schools as well, believes public education is a “dead end.” The Washington Post even reported that students and alumni from the Christian college in Michigan she attended, Calvin College, wrote an open letter urging the Senate not to confirm her because she does not have “a strong commitment” to public education.
DeVos was questioned as to whether she would enforce the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in regards to for-profit charter schools, which she refused to confirm. Since the intention of deregulating the use of federal education dollars is to allow corporations to more easily accumulate them as profit, it makes sense why DeVos would be opposed to enforcing regulations such as the IDEA, despite the consequences for students with disabilities.
DeVos secured her position by virtue of her family’s massive wealth. DeVos, a billionaire, has bankrolled right wing politicians and was able to seize control of the Michigan Republican Party before moving on to her current position as head of the Department of Education. Her outrageous performance during her confirmation hearings, where she infamously warned of the danger of grizzly bear attacks at schools and seemed to not know the difference between growth and proficiency, made it perfectly clear that she bought her cabinet spot.
The Democrats’ opposition and misleadership
Attempting to latch on to the growing opposition movement Senate Democratic Leader, Chuck Schumer, at the final debate over DeVos, commented that, “The American people are speaking in one loud voice against this nominee.”
The Senate Democrats, including two Republicans, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, mobilized a serious challenge to DeVos. However, it sounded somewhat disingenuous to hear the Democrats, who have supported corporate education reform since at least the Republicans’ No Child Left Behind Act, to be so outraged by DeVos’ crusade against public education. The Democrats’ own education policy during the Obama years was nothing more than a continuation of the corporate education reforms of George W. Bush.
It is therefore not surprising that the Democrats’ opposition to DeVos was not really opposition to the corporate take-over of public education spending. For example, Elizabeth Warren was clear that she supports charter schools and was only opposed to the type of charter schools advocated for by DeVos. The distinction Warren drew was between not-for-profit charter schools and the for-profit charter schools DeVos advances.
Citing the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association (MCPSA), who issued a public statement against DeVos, Warren argued that the for-profit charter schools lack the same “oversight and accountability” as the non-profits. However, charter schools in general represent the deregulation of the use of public education dollars. Even the MCPSA notes that non-profit charter schools operate “autonomously” from the Massachusetts board of education, which means they lack oversight and accountability compared to public education proper.
While the management firms of the MCPSA’s so-called non-profit charter schools claim a non-profit status, on their web page they list nearly 60 “vendors” (i.e. for-profit corporations) that offer every conceivable service and resource for running a school, from curriculum, staffing to insurance. In other words, the MCPSA facilitates the funneling of public education dollars to for-profit corporations. Warren’s objection to for-profit charter schools therefore appears opportunistic, and a possible point of division within the capitalist agenda for privatizing public education.
Other Senators correctly objected to DeVos’ complete lack of curricular and pedagogical knowledge. However, the high stakes testing and charter school privatization initiative from No Child Left Behind to Race to the Top has been consistently critiqued for ignoring recommendations from teachers and from research in curriculum and pedagogy. The Democrats therefore have a consistent record of supporting education policy devoid of expertise in curriculum and pedagogy.
An independent movement to save public education
DeVos’ confirmation is a blow, but the movement is just beginning to fight back against what DeVos will attempt to unleash, combined with the whole anti-worker, Right-to-Work (for less), imperialist Trump agenda.
Lily Eskelsen Garcia, head of the National Education Association teachers union, said, “Today’s outcome marks only the beginning of the resistance. Students, educators, parents, civil rights and special education advocates ― along with millions of Americans ― are speaking loud and clear: we are here to stay … we will protect public education.”
As a socialist organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation stands in absolute solidarity with the movement to defend public education. And we will fight for a society where students, teachers and the working class neighborhoods they serve have not just adequate resources, but power to control their community and their future.
