The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
DeVos ekes out win as Pence casts historic vote
WASHINGTON >> Charter school advocate Betsy DeVos won confirmation as education secretary Tuesday by the slimmest of margins, pushed to approval only by the historic tie-breaking vote of Vice President Mike Pence.
Two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joined Democrats in a marathon effort to derail the nomination of the wealthy Republican donor. The Senate historian said Pence’s vote was the first by a vice president to break a 50-50 tie on a Cabinet nomination.
Despite thewin, DeVos emerged bruised from the highly divisive nomination fight. Opposed by half the Senate, she faced criticism, even ridicule for lack of ex---
perience and confusion during her confirmation hearing. At one point, she said some schools should have guns because of the threat of grizzly bears.
And there has been scathing opposition from teachers unions and civil rights activists over her support of charter schools and her conservative religious ideology.
President Donald Trump accused Democrats of seeking to torpedo education progress. In a tweet before the vote, he wrote, “Betsy DeVos is a reformer, andshe is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!”
DeVos was sworn in hours after the Senate vote by Pence, who told the new Cabinet member: “I wasn’t just voting for you. Having seen your devotion to improving the quality of education for some of our most vulnerable children across the nation for so many years, I was also casting a vote for America’s children.”
“I can tell you, my vote for Betsy DeVoswas the easiest vote I ever cast,” Pence said.
DeVos released a statement promising to be “a tireless advocate for all students.”
“Partnering with students, parents, educators, state and local leaders, Congress and all stakeholders, we will improve education options and outcomes across America,” she said.
She now takes the helm of a department charged with implementing laws affecting the nation’s public schools with no direct experience with traditional public schools. Her opponents noted that she has no experience running public schools, nor has she attended one or sent her children to one.
She also will have to address several hot-button issues in higher education, such as rising tuition costs, growing student debt and the troubled for-profit colleges, many of which have closed down, leaving students with huge loans and without a good education or job prospects.
Close attention also will be paid to how DeVos deals with sexual assault and freedom of speech on campuses.
DeVos supporters sawher confirmation as an occasion to breathe new life into a troubled American school systemand a chance to shift power from Washington to the local level.
“She has been a leader in the movement for public charter schools — the most successful reform of public education during the last 30 years,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Education Committee. “And she has worked tirelessly to help low-income children have more choices of better schools.”
DeVos has her work cut out.
“She will have to make it a priority to reach out to educators and education policymakers to reassure them that she is committed to working to improve education for all students including the vast majority who attend and will continue to attend traditional public schools,” said Martin West, associate professor of education at Harvard University. “My view is that she is committed to doing that.”
Democrats and labor unions vigorously fought the nomination, suggesting DeVos would defund traditional public schools by diverting money to charter and private institutions. They cited her financial interest in organizations pushing for charter schools, though she has said she will divest those interests.
Collins and Murkowski said they feared her focus on charter schools will undermine remote public schools in their states.
Connecticut’s two U.S. senators, both Democrats, issued statements detailing their opposition.
“The American people deserve a Secretary of Education who embodies and exemplifies a commitment to excellence. Unfortunately, the nominee before us, Betsy DeVos, fails on every count to meet that standard,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said in a statement. “She is unquestionably unqualified, unknowledgeable, unprepared for this job. She is unfit to run the Department of Education. As hard and unkind as that verdict sounds, we have an obligation to speak truth here, especially when it is as important as this job.”
Connecticut’s junior senator expressed a similar sentiment.
“Today, the Senate voted to confirm a woman who called public schools a ‘dead end.’ Public schools weren’t a ‘dead end’ forme, my parents, my wife, or my kids, which is why I took a stand on the Senate floor early this morning,” Sen. Chris Murphy said in a statement. “I voted against Betsy DeVos today because people in Connecticut couldn’t understand why a person who has fought so hard to undermine public schools would be put in charge of them.”
Longtime Connecticut U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, senior Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee responsible for funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, said in a statement Tuesday that the “Senate’s confirmation of billionaire and anti-public school lobbyist Ms. DeVos as Secretary of Education is a stunning validation that Republicans in Congress will work with the new Administration to cut public education.”