Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump鈥檚 pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education, sought to use her confirmation hearing to beat back the notion that she would undermine public education as head of the department, as Democrats pressed her on everything from her views on the civil rights of gay and lesbian students, to states鈥� responsibilities for students in special education, and guns in schools.
鈥淚f confirmed, I will be a strong advocate for great public schools,鈥� DeVos said. 鈥淏ut, if a school is troubled, or unsafe, or not a good fit for a child鈥攑erhaps they have a special need that is going unmet鈥攚e should support a parent鈥檚 right to enroll their child in a high-quality alternative.鈥� She also noted that her mother, Elsa Prince, was a public school teacher.
But those assurances didn鈥檛 seem to quell the anxieties of Democrats on the committee, including Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking member. 鈥淚 have major concerns with how you have spent your career and fortune fighting to privatize public education and gut investments in public schools,鈥� she said.
In the early stages of a tense hearing that lasted three and a half hours, Murray asked DeVos if she would be willing to commit not to 鈥渃ut a penny from public education鈥� or use her perch at the department to privatize public schools. DeVos said she would seek to give parents and children the best educational options possible, which Murray essentially took as a no.
DeVos on many of the big questions on the table, like whether she would rein in the department鈥檚 office of civil rights, or how she would handle key details of the federal student lending program. And at times she seemed unclear on key policy details, including during a pair of exchanges with Democratic senators on whether federal special education laws should apply to all schools. (.)
She did make it clear that she would not force states to adopt voucher programs鈥攅ither through federal regulations or legislation. Instead, she said, states should get to decide whether they want to embrace private school choice.
DeVos on Federalism
DeVos put a lot of emphasis on state and local decisionmaking power. She told Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that it should be up to states and districts to decide how schools that get taxpayer money meet the needs of students with disabilities and report instances of bullying. Kaine pressed her on the federal requirement, noting that the Individuals with Disabilities Act is a federal law, and DeVos amended her answer to say the enforcement question was 鈥渨orth consideration.鈥� (Later, under questioning from Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., DeVos said that schools must follow laws like the IDEA.) .
Earlier, she told Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., that she thinks it should be up to states and districts to decide whether guns belong in schools,
DeVos is an unusual pick to lead the Education Department. Unlike past education secretaries, she hasn鈥檛 been a governor, school superintendent, or college president. She鈥檚 perhaps best known for chairing, until her nomination, the American Federation for Children, which supports private school vouchers, education savings accounts, and other forms of educational choice around the country.
A megadonor mostly to Republican Party candidates and causes, she would also be the first billionaire secretary of education. Her father-in-law is Dick DeVos Sr., the founder of Amway; Forbes recently estimated the DeVos family鈥檚 net worth at $5.1 billion.
The DeVoses have helped finance campaigns of more than half a dozen GOP lawmakers on the Senate education committee, and contributed to a range of conservative causes.
U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the education committee said that her status as a major donor and her support for choice are not reasons enough to oppose her nomination, saying, 鈥淚 believe she is the mainstream of public opinion and her critics are not.鈥�
He stressed, for example, that there are plenty of Democrats who, like DeVos, support charter schools, including President Barack Obama and both of his education secretaries.
And he said that arguing against public school vouchers is akin to arguing against college loans or grants, which can be used at religious institutions. 鈥淢any of us believe competition produces the best colleges. It might produce the best [K-12] schools,鈥� he said.
The committee is scheduled to vote on DeVos鈥� nomination next Tuesday, if her ethics paperwork is cleared in time.
DeVos on ESSA
If she鈥檚 confirmed, DeVos and her team would play a major role in implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act, the bipartisan law that replaced the No Child Left Behind Act in 2015. States are slated to begin submitting their ESSA plans in April, and it will be up to DeVos and company to sign off on them.
In her opening statement, DeVos said she would work with lawmakers to implement ESSA 鈥渢he way that Congress intended鈥攚ith local communities freed from burdensome regulations from Washington.鈥�
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., noted the ESSA accountability regulations have the support of the Council of Chief State School Officers and that states want certainty as they go ahead with ESSA implementation. DeVos said she鈥檇 take a look at the regulations but would not commit to keeping the regulations on the books.
Financial Conflicts
Murray asked DeVos whether she thinks Trump鈥檚 decision to turn his businesses over to his children effectively deals with conflict interest questions. DeVos indicated the president-elect could have gone further. Murray then asked about some of DeVos鈥� potential business conflicts, including her family鈥檚 investments in K-12 Inc., an online learning company, and a student loan company.
鈥淲here conflicts are identified, they will be resolved. Period,鈥� DeVos said.
Murray also wanted to know if DeVos planned to continue contributing to Republican campaigns once she鈥檚 in office. In the 2016 cycle alone, DeVos and her husband gave Republicans more than $2.7 million in campaign donations.
DeVos promised to step away from funding GOP candidates while she鈥檚 education secretary. 鈥淚f I鈥檓 confirmed I will not be involved or engaged in political contributions, and my husband won鈥檛 be either,鈥� she told Murray. She also said she would draw only a $1 salary as head of the department.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., was much more pointed. He tried to pin DeVos down on just how much her family has donated to Republicans, which he guessed was in the neighborhood of $200 million.
鈥淒o you think if your family hadn鈥檛 made millions of dollars in contributions to the Republican Party that you would be here today?鈥�
DeVos told him it鈥檚 possible she might have been chosen as education secretary even if she wasn鈥檛 a megadonor, given her long-standing commitment to children.
Michigan Record and Choice
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., a charter school supporter and former superintendent in Denver, asked DeVos what she had learned from lagging student achievement and persistent achievement gaps at charter schools in Detroit, whose charter sector she helped to create. Some parents in the Motor City have complained that while parents have plenty of options, most of those aren鈥檛 high quality.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no practical difference between being forced to go to a terrible school and [choosing] between five terrible schools,鈥� Bennet said.
DeVos told him that, in her view, a lot is going right for charters in Detroit. Struggling charter schools in the state are sometimes closed, she said, whereas foundering public schools are not. Still, the Great Lakes Education Project, a Michigan-based organization started and funded by DeVos, has been criticized for helping to defeat a legislative push to create a commission that would have beefed up oversight of both charter and public schools in the city.
DeVos on Civil Rights
Trump鈥檚 incendiary campaign trail rhetoric attacking immigrants, Muslims, and others has civil rights advocates worried about whether DeVos would look out for those students at the Education Department. Members of DeVos鈥� family .
DeVos sought to assuage these concerns in her opening statement. 鈥淓very child in America deserves to be in a safe environment that is free from discrimination,鈥� she said.
But some Democrats wanted more specifics. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., asked DeVos, if she believes in gay conversion therapy, given that members of her extended family have given money to organizations, like Focus on the Family, that support the practice. DeVos said that she doesn鈥檛 believe in conversion theory.
Rural Education
Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo, a former chairman of the committee, noted that 鈥渞ural and frontier鈥� schools like those in his state sometimes have their own unique challenges. He wanted to know how DeVos would seek to help them.
DeVos agreed that rural schools and settings 鈥渞equire different approaches and different options.鈥� Distance learning, she said, could help rural schools offer a broader range of choices.
Heated Disagreement
In the run up to the hearing, DeVos鈥� nomination drew , an unusual backdrop for an education secretary鈥檚 confirmation hearing, in the past.
On the pro-DeVos side: DeVos attracted significant support from Republican heavy-hitters like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Bush and Rice worked with DeVos at the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which Bush started in 2008 and which Rice led when Bush ran for president in 2016. Both Romney and Bush have received campaign donations from the DeVos family. Groups supporting DeVos include the Center for Education Reform, which supports choice, and the Home School Legal Defense Association.
On the anti-DeVos side: Both American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garc铆a spoke out in days prior to the hearing against her. A new congressional caucus of 11 Democrats, the House Public Education Caucus, tried to rally support against her nomination. (House members do not confirm cabinet nominees.) And the 91直播 Conference for Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of various civil rights groups, urged the Senate to reject her nomination.
The original committee hearing for DeVos had been scheduled for Jan. 11. Alexander said last week the postponement was due to scheduling reasons, although at the time the hearing was moved, DeVos鈥� ethics paperwork had yet to be fully reviewed and cleared by the Office for Government Ethics. That contributed to the delayed hearing, sources said.
Photos (from top):
Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos arrives with former Sen. Joe Lieberman, right, before testifying Tuesday at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster);
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., the ranking member of the education committee, looks to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., left, as he questions DeVos. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster).
The nominee greets Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the education committee. before testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
