Betsy’s Public School Experience

We’ve all been saying that the Trump Administration’s for-profit-school-loving Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has no experience in public schools, but that’s not exactly true. Working with a church group, Mrs. DeVos had her chauffeur drop her off at Burton Elementary School in Grand Rapids, where she tutored– “mentored” one student for one hour each week.

The public school, where 97.6% of students get free or reduced-price lunch, is 88% Latino, and many kids don’t speak English at home, so volunteers are appreciated. And billionaire Betsy DeVos did what any school volunteer would: hired the student’s mother as a maid and bought her a car. After a few years, Ms. DeVos subsidized the young girl’s transfer to a private Christian school.

So that’s how Betsy DeVos knows that school choice works. We look forward to new federal programs that provide jobs and cars to families of all poor students, nationwide.

 Radio producer Susan Burton explored Betsy DeVos’ public school experience for This American Life in an episode titled “Vouching Towards Bethlehem“:

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Tags: Betsy DeVos, Department of Education, DeVos, education, GOP, public education, public schools, Republicans, school volunteers, Trump Cabinet