Trump Education Secretary
Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
(Carolyn Kaster)
Amid growing national opposition from the left to President Donald Trump's nominee for Education, three conservatives on Monday morning urged Sen. Bob Casey Jr., (D-Pa.) to dispense with his opposition to Betsy DeVos.
In a telephone press conference, Patricia Levesque, CEO of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, Matt Brouillette a board member of REACH Foundation, a school choice advocacy group and state Rep. Jim Christiana, (R-Beaver), praised the Michigan billionaire philanthropist and conservative donor tapped by Trump to lead Education.
Levesque urged Casey not to take what she said was the direction of unions and education bureaucrats who widely oppose her nomination. DeVos is a supporter of school choice - which includes vouchers and charter schools.
"The president won the election with the promise to shake things up," said Levesque, whose organization, founded by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2008, counts school choice among its education reform agenda. "I believe he deserves to have his nominees confirmed when they are qualified and Betsy DeVos is qualified."
Levesque called DeVos smart and capable, and praised her for subscribing to a "change agenda."
DeVos has come under considerable opposition from public education officials and advocates. The National Education Association -- the nation's largest teachers union - has excoriated DeVos for her support of charter schools and vouchers. The union has rallied more than 1 million people to reach out to lawmakers and register opposition to Trump's nominee. On Monday, more than 300 state lawmakers from across the country and mostly Democratic added their names to those in opposition of the nomination, according to The Washington Post.
Detractors point out that DeVos lacks experience in public education. Levesque noted that voters "reject the notion that only people from Washington or the education establishment" are qualified to lead the nation's education system.
With a Senate Republican majority, DeVos's confirmation is widely seen as a certainty. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is scheduled to vote on her nomination Tuesday, with a full Senate vote expected in the coming weeks. No Republican has signaled opposition to her confirmation.
Casey says he will not vote in favor of her confirmation. Casey earlier this month grilled DeVos after she admitted she would not follow Obama administration Title IX guidelines, which among its provisions, direct how schools, colleges and universities treat sexual assault and harassment allegations. He derided DeVos for having worked to dismantle the Campus SaVE Act, which Casey sponsored and expands on federal law on campus sexual assault.
"Ms. DeVos would take public education in our nation backward and make it harder for public school students in Pennsylvania to achieve their potential," Casey said earlier this month.
Casey's Republican counterpart, Sen. Pat Toomey, supports DeVos's nomination. Toomey has long been a supporter of education reforms that expand school choice.
Brouillette, a former teacher, called DeVos a "passionate" advocate for education. He cited that "tens of thousands" of children in Philadelphia were in waiting lists for alternative school choices and that supply was not keeping up with demand.
"We need to do what is best for our kids and not for the adults who are employed in the public school system," Brouillette said. He said failed public education led to poverty, underemployment and incarceration.
Christiana noted that optimism was high in his Beaver and Washington counties district since the election of Trump to the White House.
"A lot of folks are tired of the same old same old," he said.
Christiana said DeVos was a "champion" of education. He said he welcomed the opportunity to have Washington's support in fighting for school choice.
"I encourage Senator Casey to not take the company line and the establishment line and to look at the tens of thousands of kids in Pennsylvania who have benefitted from school choice."