DeVos’s nomination as Secretary of Education is getting scrutinized. Rightly so. Parents, educators, and grassroots activists across the state of Michigan know exactly who DeVos is and her position on Common Core. We’re not fooled by a single carefully parsed statement on a webpage that she is “not a supporter – period.” We know the truth. We experienced it first hand. So have many Michigan lawmakers but for some reason they continue to stay silent and give DeVos a complete pass. Loyalty to DeVos trumps loyalty to the truth, apparently.
DeVos’s parsing on Common Core is going to become harder to maintain the more she speaks on education. She isn’t giving interviews right now but at President-elect Trump’s “Thank You” rally in Grand Rapids DeVos asserted that she is for letting states set their own high standards and finally putting an end to the “federalized Common Core.”
DeVos use of the qualifier “federalized” is telling. DeVos likely believes Common Core is a high standard and a quality choice for states; otherwise she would be with us at Stop Common Core in Michigan, fighting it to get it out, and replacing it with the pre-Common Core Massachusetts standards. She’s not. Neither is GLEP. GLEP opposes SB 826 through their partnership with the Michigan Coalition for High Student Standards.
In a DeVos system of “choice” parents will choose WHERE their child is educated but not WHAT they are taught. That was said directly in an American Federation for Children report,
“Through educational choice, parents are empowered with the ability to choose the environment—whether it is a traditional public school, charter school, private school, virtual school, home school or blended learning—that best suits their children’s needs.”
That’s not true choice and will result in the destruction of educational freedom for all parents. It’s time for parents, educators, AND lawmakers who know the truth about DeVos and her version of choice which includes implementation of Common Core (or a rebrand) to speak up and let President-elect Trump know it’s time to “drain the swamp.”
Her part of the rally begins at the 1:24 mark.
For a more detailed analysis of DeVos’s School Choice plan please read:
The DeVos Choice Means NO Real Choice for Parents, Students, and Educators