DeVos confirmation From Dr. Sid Chapman
“Georgians joined many Americans to drive a bipartisan rejection of DeVos’ ideas for students and public education. No other Trump cabinet nominee garnered the level of unprecedented public opposition as DeVos. This was underscored by Vice President Pence having to step in to cast the deciding vote for her nomination.
The hundreds of thunderous rallies across the country including Georgia, the flood of phone calls, and the deluge of millions of emails in opposition to the DeVos’ nomination we believe denies the Trump administration a mandate to take over our public schools.
Students, educators, parents, civil rights workers, and special education advocates— here in Georgia and across America—will continue to speak loud and clear that we are here to stay and that we will protect public education.
Part of that commitment is to continue to work with ESSA for the benefit of our students at the state and local level. This is where the rubber meets the road on education policy and this is where the voices of educators matter the most. We also will continue to defend against the hostile takeover of our public schools with unproven and failed schemes such as for-profit charter schools and vouchers wherever they may appear. Georgians and Americans have made it clear that DeVos needs to listen to the people because every single child deserves a great public school. GAE will closely watch what DeVos does. And we will work to hold her accountable for the actions and decisions she makes on behalf of the more than 1.7 million students in Georgia’s public schools.”
Dr. Sid Chapman is president of the Georgia Association of Educators