PSEA is a community of education professionals who make a difference in the lives of students every day.
As President Donald Trump’s secretary of education, Betsy DeVos has worked to subvert public education. She has promoted the privatization of public schools through vouchers, called for deep cuts to federal funding, rolled back protections for vulnerable children, and shilled for the for-profit college industry that has defrauded countless students.
Scroll down through this reverse timeline to see what Betsy DeVos has done as education secretary. Each moment shows how she’s been a disastrous choice, just as public school supporters knew she would be.
Betsy DeVos visits Harrisburg to champion programs that divert taxpayer funds from public schools to costly private schools.
Consistently throughout her tenure, Secretary DeVos has embraced such programs, including a proposal to expand taxpayer-funded private school tuition vouchers that she rolled out in February, while favoring cuts in public school funding.
“Betsy DeVos doesn’t seem to understand that the best way to improve education is to invest the resources we need to provide a great neighborhood public school to every student,” said PSEA President Rich Askey. “Voucher programs don’t help students learn. They drain money from public schools, and they don’t hold private schools accountable for student achievement.”
NEA & CTA win lawsuit against DeVos.
A federal court orders Betsy DeVos to implement protections for students in online programs — the latest blow to her anti-public education agenda.
DeVos Testifies.
In testimony before a House subcommittee, DeVos struggles to defend her proposal to cut $7 billion from education programs, including eliminating all $18 million in federal funding for the Special Olympics. She fails to justify her claim that “students may be better served by being in larger classes.” (Her proposal includes a 26 percent reduction to state grants for special education and millions of dollars in cuts to programs for students who are blind.) And, pressed by Rep. Jahana Hayes, a former National Teacher of the Year, she declines to say that she would prevent the use of federal education money to arm and train teachers.
DeVos opens the door for private schools and religious organizations to receive a windfall of taxpayer funding.
DeVos says the U.S. Department of Education will no longer enforce provisions that require federally funded services be provided only by public employees or contractors independent of private schools and religious organizations. It is an unprecedented move for a federal agency to indicate its intent not to enforce the law as written.
DeVos pushes to expand federal vouchers and cut education spending.
Her voucher bill is a brazen scheme that would invest $50 billion in private school vouchers over 10 years. Meanwhile, DeVos backs Trump’s proposal to cut education spending by $8.5 billion in 2020, eliminating more than two dozen programs that help public schools, including teacher development, academic support and enrichment, and after-school activities.
DeVos stalls an effort to decrease inequity in special education.
A federal judge rules against the education secretary’s proposal to delay an Obama-era rule that protects minority students in special education. The judge refers to DeVos’ attempted delay as “arbitrary and capricious.”
The DeVos-chaired School Safety Commission releases its report with recommendations that would do little to protect students.
The Commission was formed after the largest mass shooting at a high school, in Parkland, FL. Instead of addressing gun laws, the commission instead dismantles students’ civil rights protections by rescinding an Obama-era policy directing schools not to punish minority students at higher rates than white students.
DeVos introduces regulations requiring cross-examination of victims of campus sexual assault.
Experts, educators, and parents agree that the proposal will effectively deter survivors from coming forward to report assault. Universities would be held less responsible. Managing attorney of the Women’s Law Project Terry Fromson says these policies would allow schools to “ignore much of the sexual harassment that occurs in schools.”
Betsy DeVos imperils a program to help educators and other public employees handle college loan debt.
The Trump administration threatens to abolish the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which allows public workers to apply for forgiveness of their student loans after 10 years of service and on-time loan payments. As of September 30, 2018, only 0.5% of public service workers who applied to the program received forgiveness.
The DeVos-led Education Department attempts to strip its employees of collective bargaining rights.
Department officials unilaterally impose a “collective bargaining agreement” on 3,900 union staffers represented by American Federation of Government Employees Council 252, and say they will no longer bargain with them.
DeVos rescinds sexual assault guidelines.
She weakens protections against sexual harassment and assault afforded by Title IX. DeVos attempts to explain, saying “Any perceived offense can become a full-blown Title IX investigation. But if everything is harassment, then nothing is.” The National Women’s Law Center says DeVos’ approach “signals a green light to sweep sexual assault further under the rug.”
DeVos is sued for repealing federal protections that hold predatory for-profit colleges accountable.
DeVos violated federal law by revoking the Borrower Defense Rule, meant to make schools financially responsible for fraud, and forbid them from forcing students to resolve complaints outside court.
Thousands protest DeVos’ commencement address at a historically black university.
A Florida educator gathered more than 10,000 signatures asking Bethune-Cookman University leaders to reconsider their invitation to DeVos. She had just supported a budget that hurts Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and makes a $3.9 billion reduction to Pell Grants, which a majority of HBCU students rely on. She also referred to HBCUs as “pioneers of choice,” a complete misrepresentation of their history. DeVos was booed throughout her speech.
DeVos supports Trump budget proposal to slash funding for Department of Education by 13.5%.
This proposal asks for a collective $9 billion in cuts to education, including after-school programs, career and technical education, and programs to hire and train teachers. The budget bolsters the corporate-fueled privatization agenda with $250 million for vouchers, while rolling back education spending to pre-2002 levels (by today’s dollars). The Republican-controlled Congress rejects her entire request.
DeVos supports rollback of protections for trans students.
As one of her first acts as education secretary, DeVos encourages President Trump to retract protections that allow transgender students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.
DeVos barely wins confirmation.
Despite 1.1 million letters and 80,000 phone calls from NEA supporters urging senators to vote no, the U.S. Senate confirms DeVos. Vice President Mike Pence casts the deciding vote, the first time in the nation’s history a vice president’s vote was necessary to approve a cabinet nominee.
DeVos’ confirmation hearing raises further concern about her qualifications.
She cannot address fundamental questions about the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, including whether states and localities have to comply. She was unfamiliar with the difference between proficiency and growth. And she won’t say whether for-profit charters that receive public funding should be held to the same standards as public schools.
Educators denounce Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos.
Elementary teacher and NEA president Lily Eskelsen García says DeVos will be “the first secretary of education with zero experience with public schools. She has never worked in a public school. She has never been a teacher, a school administrator, nor served on any public board of education. She didn’t even attend public schools or send her children to public schools. She is out of her league when it comes to knowing and doing what works for public school students.”
Betsy DeVos and her family spend millions promoting education privatization schemes.
Long before she is Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos uses her family’s wealth to privatize public schools. She funds politicians who support voucher schemes. She chairs the pro-voucher American Federation for Children. In her home state of Michigan, DeVos is “one of the architects of Detroit’s charter school system,” one that downplays regulation and accountability while draining resources from public schools. Even some privatization advocates have described it as “one of the biggest school reform disasters in the country.”
