DeVos’ calendar indicates focus on vouchers, charters
WASHINGTON
— For years, Betsy DeVos traveled the country — and opened her checkbook — as she worked as a conservative advocate to promote the expansion of voucher programs that allow parents to use taxpayer funds to send their children to private and religious schools.
A detailed look at the first six months of DeVos’ tenure as the secretary of education — based on a 326-page calendar tracking her daily meetings — demonstrates that she continues to focus on those programs and on charter schools.
Her calendar is sprinkled with meetings with religious leaders, leading national advocates of vouchers and charter schools, and players involved in challenging state laws that limit the distribution of government funds to support religious or alternative schools.
The appointment books also include discussions related to traditional public schools, such as a telephone call in February with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, a union representing 1.7 million public-school teachers and other employees nationwide. DeVos then had a follow-up visit with Weingarten to public schools in Van Wert, Ohio, in April.
But the emphasis, a review of the calendar shows, is on the same kinds of alternatives that DeVos promoted when she was a conservative philanthropist donating money to groups such as Alliance for School Choice and the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which advocate school choice.
Nathan Bailey, a spokesman for DeVos, said she had met with a variety of players from the world of education, including state education chiefs, superintendents, principals and teachers. He also said that DeVos has visited more public schools since she started than religious or private schools.
The detailed calendar entries suggest that DeVos remains closely involved with some of the people helping to lead or advise leaders in the school-choice movement. Among them are Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, whom DeVos was scheduled to meet June 21 to discuss language she could use to promote school vouchers without generating as much resistance to the effort, according to the notes in her agenda.