Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Education Secretary affirmed her belief in increasing school choice in the nation’s educational systems while pledging to be “a strong advocate for great public schools” in opening remarks of her confirmation hearing Tuesday.
“If confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools. But, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child – perhaps they have a special need that is going unmet — we should support a parent’s right to enroll their child in a high quality alternative,” DeVos said.
DeVos, a wealthy Republican donor and education activist from Michigan, has supported vouchers and charter schools over several decades of advocacy on education issues.
While DeVos’ admirers revere her as an effective disrupter who has put her own money into supporting school choice policies, her critics tie her to the checkered track record of Michigan’s charter schools and see her advocacy for vouchers as a threat to public education.
Ranking Democrat Sen. Patty Murray asked DeVos if she would commit to not allowing funding that’s designated for public schools to flow to private options — one of the leading concerns of DeVos’ critics — and DeVos did not offer a direct assurance.
DeVos instead responded by saying she would commit to addressing the needs of “all parents and students” and noted that “not all schools are working for the students that are assigned to them.”
“I take that is not being willing to commit to not privatize public schools?” Murray followed up.
“I guess I would not characterize it in that way,” DeVos said.
Democrats had sought to delay Tuesday’s hearing until the Office of Government Ethics completes its full ethics review of the wealthy nominee, a sentiment that ranking Democrat Sen. Patty Murray made known in her opening remarks.
“I am extremely disappointed that we are moving forward with this hearing before receiving the proper paperwork from the Office of Government Ethics,” Murray said. “When President Obama entered the White House, Republicans insisted on having an ethics letter in hand before moving to a hearing. In fact, Leader McConnell wrote a letter to Leader Reid making that explicit demand—an ethics letter in hand, with time to review—and an FBI background check—before a hearing was held. So I am extremely concerned. And I can only hope that cutting corners and rushing nominees through will not be the new norm.”
The chairman of the committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander, sought to assure the committee that senators will have several days to review the OGE review of DeVos prior to a vote on her confirmation.
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