Why I backed Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education

No child should be forced to stay in a failing school.

Our new Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, insists that poor children trapped in failing public schools should have the same educational opportunities — and the same chance to escape crime and poverty — as middle class and wealthy children.

DeVos has dedicated nearly three decades of her life, her own money, and considerable personal energy toward empowering parents to create opportunities for their children. Because of DeVos’ work to expand charter schools, virtual schools, school choice, tuition tax credits, and education savings accounts, hundreds of thousands of children who were trapped in failing schools have been able to access a quality education.

DeVos refuses to give up on any child. She dedicated herself to children in Detroit’s school system, which regularly makes news for having the lowest graduation rates and worst test scores in the nation.

The charter schools Mrs. DeVos aided produced real results for these children: It is no accident that among the top 25 schools in Detroit, over 80 percent are charter schools. School choice works. We know that school choice works from the many studies showing that students achieve higher test scores, higher graduation rates, and higher rates of college enrollment when their parents are given a choice.

I know that school choice works based on the stories I hear from my constituents.

Constituents like Ralph and Pamela Young of Quarryville, Lancaster County, who describe their experience with school choice, “The public school education we received was not adequate. We needed something better for our children. We had to sacrifice significantly to make this choice, in terms of career and finances, so we’re here to say it works for the poor, not just the rich. This choice was not easy to make or keep. The results — all three kids are college graduates.”

Or the Philly mom who said, “Every parent needs to have the opportunity to make the choice that’s best for their child’s education, [especially for] children who are in the persistently failing and violent public school[s].”

Critics assert that DeVos has no experience in public education, even though she has spent decades aiding charter schools — which are public schools.

Or they call Betsy DeVos “unqualified” because she is not proficient in D.C. jargon and does not fit the mold of previous Education Secretaries. But where have these previous Education Secretaries left us?

Over the past four decades, America’s education spending has skyrocketed while outcomes have stayed low or declined. From 1972 to 2012, American spending, per-child, for K-12 education almost tripled even after accounting for inflation. The result? In 2012, SAT reading scores hit a 40-year low.

The Education Department’s National Report Card showed that close to two-thirds of our children are not proficient in reading or math, and there are still large achievement gaps between white and minority students and between the rich and poor. With results like these, maybe it is time to try a break from the establishment’s mold.

Let me be clear, there are many terrific public schools and thousands upon thousands of great public school teachers.

The good educators have nothing to fear from school choice. What parents would pull their children out of a great public school?

Another Philadelphia mother summed it up best: “It’s really simple. The money should be allowed to follow the kids, where the kids and their parents choose to go to school.”

I agree. So does Betsy DeVos. That is why I was proud to support her confirmation to be our Secretary of Education.

Pat Toomey is a Republican U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.