Responding to fierce criticism from teachers unions that the Republican donor and school choice activist is working against public education, DeVos told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that she will be \u201ca strong advocate for great public schools.\u201d
\u201cBut,\u201d she added, \u201cif 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\u2019s right to enroll their child in a high-quality alternative.\u201d
Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, expressed confidence that DeVos is an \u201cexcellent\u201d choice for the job. \u201cShe is on the side of our children,\u201d he said.
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, faced questions on her stance about guns in schools. CBSN’s Elaine Q…
But Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state, the top Democrat on the committee, said she was \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d that DeVos has not yet finalized her financial and ethics disclosures ahead of the hearing.
DeVos, 59, also said she will seek to address rising higher education costs and massive student debt, but also advance trade and vocational schools as well as community colleges because \u201ccraftsmanship is not a fallback – but a noble pursuit.\u201d
DeVos, the wife of Dick DeVos, the heir to the Amway marketing fortune, has spent more than two decades advocating for charter schools in her home state of Michigan, as well as promoting conservative religious values.
Labor unions, Democrats and civil rights groups have opposed her appointment. She and her family have donated millions of dollars to Republican politicians and groups over the years, including campaign contributions to several committee members.
Murray, in a statement, said she wants DeVos to answer questions about her \u201cextensive financial entanglements and potential conflicts of interest\u201d and also to provide additional information about her finances, calling her disclosures incomplete. The senator lamented that DeVos has spent her career and wealth \u201cfighting to privatize public education and gut investments in public schools.\u201d
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, has been met with much opposition. President for the American Federa…
DeVos says she will take a salary of only $1 if confirmed to head the Education Department, because she says does not want to take a government salary as Mr. Trump\u2019s new education secretary.
DeVos has used her vast wealth to promote charter schools, vouchers and traditional family values. Yet she is trying to assure Democrats that she will also divest in financial investments that are deemed a conflict.
She pledges that she \u201cwill not be conflicted. Period.\u201d
LGBT groups also have protested Trump\u2019s choice of DeVos, saying she has funded conservative religious groups that promote what they consider to be traditional family values, including one organization that supports conversion therapy – counseling of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people with the aim of changing their sexual orientation.
In an apparent response to that criticism, DeVos said in her statement, \u201cEvery child in America deserves to be in a safe environment that is free from discrimination.\u201d
DeVos disavowed any support for conversion therapy – the controversial counseling of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people with the aim of changing their sexual orientation.
She told the Senate panel she has \u201cnever believed in that.\u201d
DeVos said she \u201cbelieves in the innate value of every single human being,\u201d and she says all children have a right to attend a safe school.
Also, DeVos vowed to work on weakening \u201cburdensome\u201d federal regulations and giving local communities greater control over education policies.
\u201cPresident-elect Trump and I know it won\u2019t be Washington, D. C., that unlocks our nation\u2019s potential, nor a bigger bureaucracy, tougher mandates or a federal agency,\u201d DeVos said. \u201cThe answer is local control and listening to parents, students and teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\nSimilarity rank: 8.7\n<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: -2.2<\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n