Betsy Devos Bombs on “60 Minutes”

• Steve
• March 12, 2018
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The nation’s secretary of education Betsy Devos appeared on “60 Minutes” last night and raised eyebrows with her answers or attempts at answers to questions about education.

Devos was interviewed by the CBS broadcast’s Leslie Stahl and was seemingly ill prepared for the experienced interviewers questions. Devos was asked about Michigan public school’s ability to perform when money is diverted to charter schools and her answer was a bit underwhelming  “I don’t know. Overall, I, I can’t say overall that they have all gotten better”.  Things did not get better for Devos when she continued on to say “I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them … Michigan schools need to do better. There is no doubt about it.”.  Devos also admitted to not visiting any of the public schools in Michigan but hinted at the possibility of that happening in the future.

For anyone who paid attention to the education secretary’s nomination and confirmation, this interview is not a surprise.  Devos is an advocate of school choice and believes parents and students should have alternative options for schooling besides the traditional public school.  Devos is arguing that the students that move to charter schools or schools that accept vouchers typically do better than the students that stay behind at under performing schools.  She also states that the charter schools and alternative schools of choice perform better than standard public schools as well.  What she can’t explain is how the underperforming schools are supposed to get better if they are being drained of resources by students and their families choosing to take their voucher elsewhere?

While school choice sounds good in theory, there are some major flaws to voucher programs and charter schools.  The demographics that need better schools the most in order to catch up with their peers (please pay attention to that… to catch up with their peers) are being left behind in crumbling schools and deflated school systems while other students are able to leave and because of a voucher or acceptance into a charter school.  Especially in urban settings most families and students even with a voucher can’t leave because surrounding schools within their travel radius won’t accept vouchers.  Others are limited by their inability to get to a school that will accept the vouchers.  The result is a public school system that is becoming more segregated not just by race, but by economic class.  The poor and minority kids are figuratively and literally left behind in a school system that does not work.

(CNN)White House officials were alarmed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ struggle to answer basic questions about the nation’s schools and failure to defend the administration’s newly proposed school safety measures during a tour of television interviews Sunday and Monday, according to two sources familiar with their reaction.

Though DeVos was sworn in to her Cabinet position 13 months ago, she stumbled her way through a pointed “60 Minutes” interview with CBS’ Lesley Stahl Sunday night and was unable to defend her belief that public schools can perform better when funding is diverted to the expansion of public charter schools and private school vouchers. At one point, she admitted she hasn’t “intentionally” visited underperforming schools.

“I hesitate to talk about all schools in general because schools are made up of individual students attending them,” DeVos said, as Stahl suggested that DeVos visit those underperforming schools.

Things worsened as DeVos continued her cable television tour Monday morning. The White House released its proposals for school safety measures after a shooting in Florida killed 17 people. Part of the proposal includes a task force to examine ways to prevent future mass shootings, headed by DeVos. Though the proposals don’t include raising the age limit to purchase firearms from 18 to 21 — as President Donald Trump once suggested — DeVos told Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” show that “everything is on the table.”

“The plan is a first step in a more lengthy process,” DeVos said, adding that she does not think that arming teachers with assault weapons would be “an appropriate thing.”

“I don’t think assault weapons carried in schools carried by any school personnel is the appropriate thing,” DeVos said. “But again, I think this is an issue that is best decided at the local level by communities and by states.”

“The point is that schools should have this tool if they choose to use the tool. Communities should have the tools, states should have the tool, but nobody should be mandated to do it,” she said.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders declined to weigh in on DeVos’ performance, saying school safety and other policies are the “focus of the President — not one or two interviews, but actual policy.”

DeVos is just the latest member of Trump’s Cabinet to come under scrutiny. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt were all scolded by officials from the White House counsel’s office and the Cabinet liaison after a series of embarrassing and questionable ethical behavior at their respective agencies.

This isn’t the first time DeVos has made headlines. She also struggled to answer education questions during her contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate last January. At one point, she told Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy that some schools may require guns to fight off grizzly bears.

“I will refer back to Sen. (Mike) Enzi and the school he was talking about in Wyoming. I think probably there, I would imagine that there is probably a gun in the schools to protect from potential grizzlies,” she had said.

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