DeVos cancels visit to Ontario schools
TORONTO — U.S. President Donald Trump’s education secretary, who is a vocal proponent of private schools and religious education, has cancelled a visit to Ontario, where she was to learn about its public school system, citing scheduling conflicts.
Betsy DeVos was scheduled to arrive in Toronto on Thursday.
“Due to last-minute scheduling issues that arose on both sides, Secretary DeVos’s study trip to Ontario has been postponed,” the U.S. Department of Education wrote in a statement Wednesday. “Secretary DeVos looks forward to learning more about and highlighting the innovative and successful ways Ontario’s educational model is meeting the needs of students and families.”
A spokesperson for Ontario Education Minister Mitzie Hunter said the government looks forward to welcoming DeVos “at a more convenient time to showcase our worldclass, publicly funded education system.”
But news of her upcoming visit had also angered teachers’ groups and unions, who said she prioritizes the needs of private schools over the public system.
She advocates for school choice, which includes vouchers that allow kids to attend charter schools — which are publicly funded but privately operated — or private schools on the public dime.
DeVos has also attracted protests recently for revoking a guidance that instructed colleges on how to handle sexual assault cases, saying the previous policy was unfairly skewed against those accused of assault, and for the department of education rolling back rules allowing transgender students to use school restrooms of their choice.
“DeVos represents everything a public education advocate opposes,” Ontario Teachers’ Federation president Chris Cowley wrote on Twitter earlier this week. “She should keep her backwards ideas out of Ontario.”
Hunter has said DeVos could learn a lot from Ontario’s public school system.