Dear Senators,
I am writing to you to ask you to OPPOSE the nomination of Ms. Betsy Devos to the position of Secretary of Education. As a professor in the South Dakota university system, husband of a public education specialist, and friend and colleague of many educators across several states from kindergarten to college, I can say unequivocally that Ms Devos is the WRONG person for the job. Simply put, Betsy Devos fails almost any reasonable test to justify her nomination as Secretary of Education in the United States.
First, Ms Devos has no experience in public education, which is unprecedented for an Education Secretary. Neither she nor her children are products of public education, instead advocating selective private education. Her Senate exchange with Al Franken shows she hasn’t even the barest grasp of key educational issues facing the American Republic today.
Second, Ms Devos has no administrative nor organization experience. While she is quite experienced in denoting hundreds of millions of dollars of her family’s money into GOP coffers, that particular venue of philanthropy does not translate well to the relatively cash-strapped coalition-building of educators needed to keep American education effective and relevant.
Third, Ms Devos has in fact actively campaigned against improving public education, instead advocating vouchers for for-profit charter schools, which contribute to community segregation and are not held to the same accountability standards as public schools. Worse, she would actively move funds away from public schools into these unregulated, loophole-filled institutions. Her track record in Detroit is should be disqualifying enough: the Atlantic magazine, for example, called it an “educational disaster area.”
Fourth, in her Senate confirmation hearings, Ms Devos simply repeated the phrase “I support accountability” over and over again as responses to various questions from Tim Kaine. Simply put, any person who fails the Turing Test for sentience should NOT be in charge of educating humans.
I urge you to reject her nomination.
I’d also suggest running a system diagnostic check on her as well.
Thank you,
–Travis
