Betsy Devos
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Undated:
Elisabeth Dee "Betsy" DeVos ... (born January 8, 1958) is an American businesswoman, philanthropist, politician, and activist who is the 11th and current (2017) United States Secretary of Education.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_DeVos


Michigan philanthropist Betsy DeVos. Unlike the current secretary, John King, or the previous one, Arne Duncan, DeVos has never led a state education department or school district. As an advocate and donor, she has been  committed to the concept of school choice, not necessarily as a driver of improved student achievement—she has supported for-profit and virtual charter schools, as well as private school vouchers, all of which have disappointing academic track records—but to choice as a good in and of itself. DeVos is also a social conservative. She and her husband, Amway heir Dick DeVos, have funded anti–gay marriage and anti–affirmative action efforts. If she is confirmed, which is likely, she will inherit a department that spends $68 billion per year.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/schooled/2016/12/the_damage_donald_trump_could_do_to_public_education.html

-- 2016 --

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December 21: The damage Donald Trump could do to public education.

Will Trump Overhaul Public Education? ... From privatization to civil rights, his Department of Education could transform the American system.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/schooled/2016/12/the_damage_donald_trump_could_do_to_public_education.html

-- 2017 --

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January 11: Betsy DeVos: Dangerous for Students and the Promise of Public Education
http://neatoday.org/2017/01/11/betsy-devos-dangerous-for-public-education/

January 18: During Betsy DeVos's confirmation hearing for education secretary, Senate Democrats grill the businesswoman for not knowing policy basics and for her hefty GOP donations.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/fojsfk/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-profiles-in-tremendousness---secretary-of-education-nominee-betsy-devos

January 18: Trump Education Nominee Betsy DeVos Lied to the Senate

DeVos' long public record indicates she is a religious Christian ... who does not believe in the actual separation of church and state, wants public monies funneled into religious schools, and has contributed through family foundations to bigoted groups with a militant anti-gay agenda.

During the Senate confirmation hearing, DeVos [was asked] directly if she was on the board of her mother’s foundation during the period in which large donations were made to Focus on the Family. DeVos said that she was not on the foundation’s board.

[According to] the 990 tax documents of the Prince Foundation [the foundation of Devos' family] Betsy DeVos was clearly listed as a vice president of the foundation’s board, along with her brother Erik, for many years, at least until 2014. DeVos was a vice president during the precise period [referred to]
https://theintercept.com/2017/01/18/trump-education-nominee-betsy-devos-lied-to-the-senate/

January 18: Will education secretary pick Betsy DeVos dilute science instruction in schools? ... if her views on school choice are implemented, even more students may be miseducated.
https://www.statnews.com/2017/01/18/betsy-devos-education-evolution-climate-change/

February 2: Betsy DeVos’ Threat to Children with Disabilities ... The education secretary nominee’s singular focus on school choice through a voucher system puts the civil rights of students with disabilities at risk.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/reports/2017/02/02/298010/betsy-devos-threat-to-children-with-disabilities/

February 7: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on School Choice, Vouchers and Religion
http://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/02/07/education-secretary-betsy-devos-on-school-choice-vouchers-and-religion.html

February 7: New education secretary Betsy DeVos champions vouchers and charter schools — here's what that means
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-charter-schools-2017-2

February 7: The Question Isn't Do You Support Betsy DeVos, It's Whether You Support School Choice
http://reason.com/blog/2017/02/07/the-question-isnt-do-you-support-betsy-d

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February 10: A comprehensive list of what Betsy DeVos can — and can’t — do next
https://www.vox.com/2017/2/10/14550262/betsy-devos-education-vouchers

February 17: DeVos: I'd Be Fine Ditching the Education Department ... President Donald Trump's embattled Cabinet head would like to see a diminished federal role in the education arena.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2017-02-17/betsy-devos-id-be-fine-if-we-could-ditch-the-education-department

February 17: Betsy DeVos, the new education secretary, had a brutal confirmation. She struggled in her hearing, and in short order became a late night punchline, a lightning rod for progressive protesters, and ultimately got confirmed when Mike Pence became the first vice president in history to cast a tiebreaker vote in the Senate for a cabinet nominee.

A week into the job, DeVos still hasn't watched the tape of her confirmation hearing. She says she wouldn't change much because Democrats were trying to get her to commit to things like equal accountability for all schools that receive federal funding — a concept with which she'll never agree.

There's a couple of things, though, she wishes she said differently.
https://www.axios.com/what-betsy-devos-wishes-she-said-at-her-confirmation-hearing-1513300501-dc956b8b-4b05-4030-8c7c-1dec56473347.html

February 22: So far, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is just what her critics feared
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/02/22/so-far-education-secretary-betsy-devos-is-just-what-her-critics-feared/?utm_term=.9757c5aede57

February 28: Betsy DeVos Press Release Celebrates Jim Crow Education System as Pioneer of “School Choice” ... this official 2017 federal government press release celebrates legal segregation
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/02/28/betsy_devos_press_release_praises_segregated_jim_crow_education_system.html

March/April: Betsy DeVos Wants to Use America’s Schools to Build “God’s Kingdom”

Trump’s education secretary pick has spent a lifetime working to end public education as we know it.

“Our desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue to advance God’s kingdom.”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/betsy-devos-christian-schools-vouchers-charter-education-secretary/

March 5: What Betsy DeVos’ confirmation means for innovation in education
https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/05/what-betsy-devos-confirmation-means-for-innovation-in-education/

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April 12: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Withdraws Obama-Era Student Loan Protections ... The Obama policy memorandums withdrawn by DeVos required that the government’s Federal Student Aid office do more to help borrowers manage or discharge their debt, Bloomberg reports.
http://fortune.com/2017/04/12/betsy-devos-student-loans-obama/

April 26: Trump Aims To Limit The Education Department’s Influence In New Order ... But so far, it’s more talk than action.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Wednesday that seeks to reduce federal intervention in education. It builds on vows he made during the campaign to dismantle the Common Core State Standards and hand greater control of schools back to states and localities.

But initially, at least, the order doesn’t do much.

The order directs Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to identify examples of federal overreach in her bailiwick, senior Education Department official Rob Goad said on a call with reporters. For the next 300 days, DeVos and a team of department staffers will analyze regulations and guidance to determine whether they legally overstep the department’s authority. 
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-education-department-executive-order_us_5900e506e4b0af6d718aecfa

May 10: Betsy DeVos booed during graduation address in Florida
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/10/betsy-devos-booed-during-graduation-address-in-florida.html

May 13: Betsy DeVos has long history of financing politics
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2017/05/13/betsy-devos-school-choice/101654880/

May 26: Why Trump's Education Plan Will Make Student Debt Crisis Worse

As a general rule, when you make it easier for people to pay back loans, they take advantage of it. But when you make it harder, they stay in debt longer.

The college loan system, which impacts some 43 million who are $1.4 trillion in debt, is at a crossroads. It can be reformed to make loan repayment simpler and reduce the cost of financing.

Yet the Trump Administration wants to take it in the opposite direction. Not only does Education Secretary Betsy DeVos want to make it harder to refinance loans, the Trump budget punishes those who want to graduate debt-free.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2017/05/26/why-trumps-education-plan-will-make-student-debt-crisis-worse/#61f42e78721c

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June 2: While the education secretary has done little to highlight the diversity in her administration — the department declined to make any of the appointees available for interviews — DeVos watchers say that diversity should encourage critics to focus more on her actions than their preconceptions. ... Among her appointees: a progressive Democrat who believes a broken education system is a form of white supremacy; a sexual assault survivor who is currently in a same-sex marriage; and a second-generation American who ran a federal program that helped undocumented immigrants.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/us/politics/betsy-devos-education-secretary-hiring-diversity.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-3&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article

July 25: Way back in 2016, a coalition of reputable, fair-minded education reformers — some of them Democrats — got together to vouch for her. Sure, she was inexperienced in the policy realm. Also, an outsider to Washington. Also, naïve to the demands of living under the internet’s ever-watchful eye. Still, it seemed to these surrogates that in choosing a secretary of Education, the president-elect might have done a lot worse. DeVos, a Michigan billionaire and Republican stalwart, had been pouring her energies and her fortune into education for years. Besides, she had signaled a strong distaste for Trump.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/betsy-devos-secretary-of-education.html

July 25: When U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos came into office, many in the education community were terrified the billionaire school choice advocate would quickly use her new perch to privatize education and run roughshod over traditional public schools.

Maybe they shouldn’t have been quite so worried. Nearly six months into her new job, a politically hamstrung DeVos is having a tough time getting her agenda off the ground.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/07/25/what-has-betsy-devos-actually-done-after.html

October 6: Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos offered a spirited defense of her boss’s intelligence on Friday, bluntly asking reporters, “Would a moron hire me?”

“My intelligence can be very intimidating,” DeVos said. “And if Donald Trump was a moron, he would not want to be around people who are intelligenter than him.”
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/devos-defends-trump-would-a-moron-hire-me

October 27:

How Much Is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Worth? ... The secretary of education's father-in-law is the billionaire cofounder of Amway, Richard DeVos
http://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/money-and-power/a13086194/betsy-devos-net-worth/

November 6: Expert: Expect DeVos to resign from Trump administration ... The secretary is reportedly frustrated by her lack of influence
https://www.salon.com/2017/11/06/officials-expect-devos-to-resign-from-trump-administration_partner/

November 20: The Trump Administration’s Slow But Steady Undoing of the Department of Education
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education-k-12/news/2017/11/20/442737/trump-administrations-slow-steady-undoing-department-education/

December 14: The Biggest Controversies From Betsy DeVos' First Year
http://time.com/5053007/betsy-devos-education-secretary-2017-controversies/

-- 2018 --

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January 17: Donald Trump's education secretary pick Betsy DeVos fails to answer basic question about education

When asked her views the way students should be tested in schools, Republican billionaire and Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos stumbled over the question
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-education-secretary-nominee-pick-betsy-devos-fails-answer-question-education-policy-a7533131.html

February 16: Trump’s education secretary joins Democrats in calling for congressional hearings on school shootings

Betsy DeVos told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt that Parkland shooting should prompt “much more robust conversation around tracking and tackling mental health issues.”

Like past school shootings, the Florida massacre inspired calls for more restrictions on firearms and the expansion of mental health services, especially because the accused gunman exhibited troubling behavior. But while past school shootings have shocked the nation's conscience, none — not even the worst — moved Congress to pass legislation to attempt to address the issue.
http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/02/16/trumps-education-secretary-joins-democrats-in-calling-for-congressional-hearings-on-school-shootings/

March 7: Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Visits Parkland Students, Doesn’t Get Warm Welcome

DeVos visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in an event that was closed to the press - but angry students covered her visit on social media.
https://www.inquisitr.com/4817555/trump-education-secretary-betsy-devos-visits-parkland-students-doesnt-get-warm-welcome/

March 12: White House officials alarmed at education secretary's '60 Minutes' performance

White House officials were alarmed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' struggle to answer basic questions about the nation's schools and failure to defend the administration's newly proposed school safety measures during a tour of television interviews Sunday and Monday, according to two sources familiar with their reaction.

Though DeVos was sworn in to her Cabinet position 13 months ago, she stumbled her way through a pointed "60 Minutes" interview with CBS' Lesley Stahl Sunday night and was unable to defend her belief that public schools can perform better when funding is diverted to the expansion of public charter schools and private school vouchers. At one point, she admitted she hasn't "intentionally" visited underperforming schools.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/12/politics/white-house-officials-alarmed-at-betsy-devos/index.html

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March 12: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos says arming teachers should be an ‘option’

DeVos said in the interview that there is a “sense of urgency,” saying she will head up a task force to look at what states are doing. She added that it should be an “option for states and communities to consider,” whether teachers should have guns in the classrooms.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/education-secretary-betsy-devos-talks-guns-schools-and-being-misunderstood-2018-03-12

March 12: Trump's education secretary chided him for calling NBC's Chuck Todd 'a sleeping son of a b----'

"I wonder, as the education secretary in charge of what our kids learn, what do you think of that kind of language?" [NBC host Savannah] Guthrie asked. "Would you wash someone's mouth out with soap?"

"I would probably use different language myself," DeVos responded with a smile. "I think we all have an opportunity and responsibility to be examples to our kids."

Guthrie pressed her, "And that includes the president?"

"That includes the president as well," DeVos responded.
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/betsy-devos-chides-trump-for-calling-chuck-todd-sleeping-son-of-a-b-2018-3/

March 22: Congress blocks DeVos agenda in spending bill

Some significant proposals championed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump were rejected in the $1.3 trillion spending bill that's making its way through Congress.

DeVos and Trump proposed a budget that would have cut the Education Department's budget by $3.6 billion and funneled more than $1 billion toward private school vouchers and other school choice plans.

But lawmakers rejected a number of those proposals, including slashing funding for the department's Office for Civil Rights, halving federal work study programs and spending $250 million on a private school choice program.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/22/politics/congress-betsy-devos-spending-bill/index.html

May 24: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos under fire for saying schools can report undocumented students
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/education-secretary-betsy-devos-fire-schools-report-undocumented/story?id=55407265

May 24: Critics: Betsy DeVos should retract undocumented students remarks or resign
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2018/05/24/critics-ask-betsy-devos-retract-undocumented-students-remark-resign/643431002/

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May 25: Schools Are Legally & Morally Obligated to Protect Undocumented Students, Not Report Them
http://remezcla.com/features/culture/betsy-devos-undocumented-students/

May 29: Civil Rights Groups Are Pressing Betsy DeVos to Affirm a Supreme Court Decision That Protects Undocumented Students’ Education. Here’s the Backstory on Plyler v. Doe
https://www.the74million.org/civil-rights-groups-are-pressing-betsy-devos-to-affirm-a-supreme-court-decision-that-protects-undocumented-students-education-heres-the-backstory-on-plyler-v-doe/

May: U.S. Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, has had her share of negative attention in the media. The most recent media frenzy is around her comments made surrounding the responsibilities school hold over undocumented students. In her recent comments to Congress, Betsy DeVos stated that schools should be able to decide whether or not to report undocumented students to immigration officials. This suggestion by the Education Secretary would shift this power to principals and teachers and she masked it by stating it would be a “community decision.”

Much to her surprise, DeVos was corrected by a member of the committee and was reminded of the fact that immigration law is under federal jurisdiction and is not governed by municipalities.
http://lacomadre.org/2018/06/dear-betsy-our-undocumented-students-deserve-better/

May 30: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Did Not Say Schools Should Call ICE on Immigrant Kids

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spoke with some members of Congress last week. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D–N.Y.) asked whether she thought public schools should call Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents if they suspect students of being illegal immigrants. DeVos' reply, via The Huffington Post:

"I think that's a school decision, it's a local community decision," DeVos told the House Education and the Workforce Committee. "I refer to the fact that we have laws and we also are compassionate. I urge this body to do its job and address and clarify where there is confusion around this."
https://reason.com/blog/2018/05/30/education-secretary-betsy-devos-did-not

June 5: Betsy DeVos changes tune on whether schools should report undocumented students

Asked during a congressional hearing Tuesday whether federal law allows teachers or principals to contact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about undocumented students, DeVos responded, "I don’t think they can."

That comment represents a break from what the secretary said at a hearing last month. During that appearance, DeVos said the decision should be left up to individual schools.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/betsy-devos-changes-tune-on-whether-schools-should-report-undocumented-students

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June 5: Betsy DeVos Says School Safety Commission Won’t Look At Role Of Guns In School Shootings

The secretary of education said the commission is not charged with focusing on firearms.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/betsy-devos-school-shootings_us_5b16c97ce4b09578259c3ac6

June 5: U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced Tuesday that she has approved North Carolina's plan for educating students, which will guarantee the continued flow of federal education dollars into the state.

North Carolina had been among six states who had not yet received U.S. Department of Education approval for how it would educate students under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. In her announcement, DeVos praised North Carolina for its use of the controversial A through F school grading system, in which schools get letter grades based on on how their students perform on state exams.

Critics of the A-F grading system say it stigmatizes high-poverty schools, which are more likely to get low marks compared to affluent schools.

DeVos also announced Tuesday that she had approved Nebraska's plan.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article212585604.html

June 6: Federal School Safety Commission Holds First Public Session. DeVos Wasn't There
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/06/617719491/federal-school-safety-commission-holds-first-public-session-devos-wasnt-there

June 12: Map: Tracking School Visits by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos
https://www.edweek.org/ew/section/multimedia/map-tracking-betsy-devos-school-visits.html

June 28: Betsy DeVos: How We Can Catch Up to Other Countries in Education
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/06/28/betsy-devos-how-we-can-catch-up.html

June 28: White Plains teachers flooded with emails from DeVos-funded Mackinac org post-Janus

Hours after Wednesday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling that public employees do not have to pay union fees if they don’t join their labor organization, teachers in the White Plains school district began receiving emails advising them how to opt out of the union....
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/education/2018/06/28/teachers-emails-mackinac/743033002/

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August 31: DeVos: I won't take action over schools buying guns with federal funds
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/31/politics/betsy-devos-guns-schools-education-department-secretary/index.html

November 12: Betsy DeVos' staff denies rumor she's leaving education secretary job
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/11/12/betsy-devos-education-secretary-job/1976260002/

November 14: Betsy DeVos Sued For Failing To Implement Automatic Student Loan Forgiveness

A ruling by a federal judge last month seemed like it would end a long legal battle between Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and tens of thousands of student loan borrowers waiting to have their debts canceled. But as of Tuesday, there is a new round of litigation.

A group called the Housing and Economic Rights Advocates is suing DeVos, claiming the Department of Education has failed to comply with Borrower Defense regulations, as it was ordered to do, and that it continues to collect on loans that should be discharged.

The Obama-era rule was designed to cancel loans of borrowers who were defrauded by for-profit colleges abruptly shut down before students could earn their degrees.
https://www.npr.org/2018/11/14/668017468/betsy-devos-sued-for-failing-to-implement-automatic-student-loan-forgiveness

November 16: U.S. Marshals Service spending millions on DeVos security in unusual arrangement

The cost to taxpayers could be as much as $19.8 million through next year, according to figures provided to NBC News.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/u-s-marshals-service-spending-millions-devos-security-unusual-arrangement-n909001

November 16: “This will make schools less safe”: why Betsy DeVos’s sexual assault rules have advocates worried

The new regulations from the Education Department will make it harder for students to report harassment and assault, advocates say.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/11/16/18096736/betsy-devos-sexual-assault-harassment-title-ix

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November 16: The Department of Education has issued its long-awaited proposed regulations reforming sexual-assault adjudications on college campus. Not only will these rules restore basic due process and fairness to college tribunals, but they also — given how basic the changes are — highlight just how ridiculous university kangaroo courts have become.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/11/betsy-devos-strikes-a-blow-for-the-constitution/

November 23: Betsy DeVos to the rescue: For-profit colleges see a savior in secretary

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has led a rescue squad for the nation’s for-profit colleges. Step by step, she has dismantled an Obama-era crackdown on the industry, and she plans to deliver a set of regulations next year that many expect to again boost the industry.

Critics say these schools, which enroll 2.3 million students and range from small trade schools to large multistate enterprises such as the University of Phoenix, prey on vulnerable students, leaving them with huge debts and questionable credentials. Defenders say they offer critical options, especially for students not in traditional four-year programs, and were unfairly singled out for scrutiny by the Obama administration.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/betsy-devos-to-the-rescue-for-profit-colleges-see-a-savior-in-secretary/2018/11/23/55066cfe-d3cb-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.5928da17a2da

November 24: House Democrats pile on to scrutinize DeVos

Committee leaders say they’re eager to look at her treatment of for-profit colleges, student loan forgiveness and campus sexual assault.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/11/24/betsy-devos-education-house-democrats-1012544

-- 2019 --

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