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Light Rain Fog/Mist District officials are concerned by DeVos
Fear education nominee will divert funds from public schools
Officials in the Hewlett-Woodmere and Lawrence school districts have expressed concern about Betsy DeVos, President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education. Her nomination was approved by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions with a 12-11 vote on Tuesday, and it will now be taken up by the full Senate.
Fears about DeVos’s beliefs in education that appear to favor private and charter schools compelled the Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education to hold what it called a special meeting on Monday. At that session, trustees approved letters that were sent to New York’s two U.S. senators, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, and the Senate committee.
“It is not our belief that Mrs. DeVos would be the advocate that American students need to remain competitive well into the future,” the letters read. They echoed the sentiments of other leaders around the state and country, noting DeVos’s lack of experience in education.
Two years ago, the Lawrence district twice opposed applications for a charter school within its boundaries. Both times, the applications were found lacking, and were not approved by the State Education Department.
District Superintendent Gary Schall stressed that a charter school’s impact on the district would not have been positive. Based on a state formula, a charter school would have been eligible for $21,389 per pupil, which would have come from the district budget. It would not charge tuition. The district would have lost roughly $7.7 million per year when the school reached full capacity, according to district officials, and more than likely would have had to cut programs.
“It is imperative for a secretary of education to view charter schools not only ideologically but on a granular level,” Schall said. There are times when charter schools and public schools can coexist, he added, but there are also cases in which charter schools can pose a threat to the public school system.
Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat of Washington, asked DeVos at her confirmation hearing on Jan. 17 whether she could commit to not working to privatize public schools or not cutting funding for public education. “I look forward, if confirmed, to working with you to talk about how we address the needs of all parents and all students,” DeVos said, adding, “Not all schools are working for the students that are assigned to them,” and that she wanted to “empower parents to make choices on behalf of their children that are right for them.”
The Board of Directors of New York State United Teachers, a union with more than 600,000 members who work in education, human services and health care, passed a resolution to oppose DeVos’s confirmation on Jan. 28. “Betsy DeVos has no credentials or any experience to serve in this position as she has never had any experience with public schools,” the resolution stated.
Karen Magee, the union’s president, said in a statement that DeVos has supported policies such as charter school expansion and school vouchers that provide public funds to help families pay for private-school tuition. “Her nomination defies logic,” Magee said, “and represents the potentially destructive path on which our next president could set this nation.”
Gillibrand and Schumer, who are not members of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, tweeted their opposition to DeVos’s nomination on Jan. 24 and Jan. 26, respectively. “If our public education fails, then America fails, and I do not believe Mrs. DeVos shares my commitment to a strong public education system,” Gillibrand wrote on Twitter.
“Betsy DeVos would single-handedly decimate our public education system if she were confirmed,” Schumer wrote.
Have an opinion about Betsy DeVos’s nomination? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.
