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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

COLUMN: Americans should be concerned about Betsy DeVos’ stance on school choice

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Betsy DeVos

In the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency, Betsy DeVos was nominated as secretary of education on Jan. 20. Following significant amounts of controversy and several protests, DeVos was ultimately confirmed by the senate after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote on Feb. 7.

Since then, many have expressed their concern regarding her experience and her outlook on public education. However, her stance on school choice has raised the ears of many Americans, including her fellow Republicans.

DeVos is a strong proponent for school choice. While many families choose to send their children to public schools, others do not. DeVos strongly believes that parents should have a say or a choice, regarding whether or not their children attend private or public schools. I can’t say that I have a problem with this.

However, I do have a problem with one thing: DeVos has zero experience with public schools. That’s kind of scary, right? Considering she is the Secretary of Education, one would think she would have years of experience. Sadly though, she doesn’t.

DeVos attended private schools, as did her children. I think that private school education is fantastic and extremely beneficial. Students can truly receive the one-on-one attention they need, and the teachers do an outstanding job. Nevertheless, I find it very disturbing that she, and the Trump administration as a whole, have proposed an additional $20 billion to the private spending budget in order to give parents “school choice;” the budget is already spending around $50 billion annually.

According to USA Today’s article, “Conservatives To DeVos,” adding $20 billion to the private spending budget would increase government intervention in the private school sector by 30 percent. American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Rick Hess said not only would this “distort the marketplace,” it would also increase government regulations in private schools.

What about public school funding? What about the classrooms that have old, outdated textbooks? What about the teachers who have to pay for supplies, posters, teaching tools and even books right out of their own pockets? What about the families who simply can't afford to send their children to private schools? What about the public school budgets that get smaller and smaller every year?

In 2013, DeVos said in an interview with Philanthropy Roundtable, "Traditional public schools are not succeeding. In fact, let’s be clear, in many cases, they are failing. That’s helped people become more open to what were once considered really radical reforms—reforms like vouchers, tax credits, and education savings accounts.”

Public schools could succeed if there was better funding, and more encouragement from the leaders in Washington, D.C. Instead of DeVos openly demoting the importance and value of public education, she could easily use her power as secretary of education to propose better funding, reduce micromanagement of classrooms by Common Core standards and overall improve the public education stigma.

While public schools are not perfect, I know from experience that there are qualified, passionate, inspiring and important teachers in this country. I know from experience that colleges and universities nationwide are raising a generation of educators that know how to teach 21st century students.

If future and current public school teachers, administrators, and even the parents of public school students stand up and let DeVos know that public education is valuable, I believe our voices can be heard. This can be done through rallies, social media interactions, or even letters. I believe we can make an impact on political leaders in Washington. I believe we can make a difference.

Public education has always been important and always will be, even if our secretary of education believes otherwise.

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