The confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, was scheduled for Wednesday, January 11. It has been postponed until January 17. We oppose the DeVos nomination. Our reasons are included in a previous post, “Stop Common Core in Michigan respectfully request President-elect Trump to “drain the swamp” and pull the plug on Betsy DeVos.”
The chorus of people speaking against DeVos is numerous and growing on both the right and left side of the aisle. It is important for the grassroots people from Michigan to speak out and not let DeVos get a pass on her negative influence here in Michigan. At the end of this post, we have included the names, phone numbers, and twitter handles of key lawmakers you can call and make your voice heard above the business leaders and politicians who have lined up in support of DeVos.
Also, several readers have asked what are some of the key questions for DeVos.
Melanie Kurdys, co-founder at Stop Common Core in Michigan offers her three key questions:
– You say you oppose Common Core, even though you supported it in the past. Will you use your power in this role to advocate for Repeal & Replace Legislation similar to that proposed in Michigan, encouraging states to get rid of the flawed Common Core Standards, replace them with proven standards of their choice and return control of education to parents and local communities?
– Do you plan to advocate for programs where money follows the child into private and home school choices? If so, how can you prevent federal or state intervention through regulations established on this money?
– Do you intend to close the Federal Department of Education and shut down all federal education programs, returning complete control to the states? Or do you intend to keep some programs in place and administered by the Federal government?
Truth in American Education offers eleven questions that are also very good.
- Is it the role of the U.S. Department of Education to mandate states to have “higher standards” even if they don’t dictate what those are?
- What constitutes “higher standards”? If the Feds were not involved with Common Core would you have seen those as “higher standards”?
- Since each state had to adopt Common Core what does “putting an end to the federalized Common Core” look like?
- Should the Federal government mandate assessments?
- What is your view of the Every Student Succeeds Act? Did that legislation go far enough to return local control?
- How will you shrink the U.S. Department of Education? Do you believe the Department should eventually close?
- Do you plan to rescind many of the “Dear Colleague” letters sent during the Obama administration?
- What is the purpose of education?
- Should the federal government mandate school choice programs?
- What strings would/should federal money for school choice have?
- What do you plan to do to protect student data privacy? How will you strengthen FERPA?
Senator Michael Enzi R WY – Phone: (202) 224-3424 Twitter – @SenatorEnzi
Senator Richard Burr R NC – Phone: (202) 224-3154. Twitter – @SenatorBurr
Senator Johnny Isakson R GA Phone – (202) 224-3643 @SenatorIsakson
Senator Rand Paul R KY (202) 224-4343 @RandPaul
Senator Susan Collins R ME (202) 224-2523 @SenatorCollins
Senator Lisa Murkowski R AK (202) 224-6665 @lisamurkowski
Senator Tim Scott R SC (202) 224-6121, @SenatorTimScott
Senator Orrin Hatch R UT (202) 224-5251 @SenOrrinHatch