Betsy Devos Essay

Betsy DeVos is our new secretary of Education. That statement right there scares me. Prior to becoming the secretary of education, Betsy was known as a business woman, a philanthropist, a politician, and an activist. Nowhere in that sentence did I mention a teacher of public schools, and therefore Betsy DeVos is not fit for the title of secretary of education. She does not qualify because she has no experience in public education system, investment in low education systems, and no knowledge about the Individual with Disabilities Education Act.

DeVos has never been a teacher in any public-school system and this was proved in her Senate confirmation hearing. She is widely known for her anti-public education. In a recent study in 2013 it is noted that public

DeVos simply did not know what IDEA was and who it benefited. IDEA is a federal law that requires schools to serve the educational needs of eligible students with disabilities. I believe this is a very important topic considering the fact that 2.8 million children from the age of seven to seventeen have disabilities that effect their learning in schools. After questioning on IDEA DeVos later stated that the states should be allowed to decide if they provided IDEA to families instead of the federal law enforcing IDEA. IDEA must be enforced by federal law because federal law provides money for the act.

The reason some individuals see Betsy as a good candidate for the education system, she is not in the back pocket of teacher unions, she is an advocate for education reform, and she has been a strong voice for schools in Michigan. But there are fewer pros then cons in DeVos in my eyes. Other individuals did not think the same thing, since she was confirmed by a tie breaker in the Senate. It was a 50-50 vote in the Senate and the Vice President Pence had to vote to break the tie to make it a 51-50