DeVos: Got the Education Secy Appointment Now is Wreaking Havoc

Two anti-public education criminals cut from the same cloth

The real education secretary

(And very bad actor for public education)

Update here after the GOP tax bill cleared the Senate 51-49 vote from the Washington Post in part – re: A very huge favor to Betsy DeVos – two key points:

Point One: Parents would be able to use a tax-free savings account originally created for college expenses to put away money for private K-12 school tuition under a proposal in the GOP tax reform bill, a move that would largely aid families who can already afford private school tuition.

The 529 college savings plan encourages parents to save for their child’s college education by allowing them to earn interest and withdraw money tax-free for higher education. But the tax reform bill would allow parents to use those same plans for up to $10,000 a year in private school expenses. It would allow them to start saving the money before their child is born. 

The proposal would further a key piece of the agenda of DeVos, who always seeks to expand school choice and to allow public dollars to follow children to private schools. She said: “This is a good step forward, reflecting that education should be an investment in individual students, not systems. I look forward to continuing to work with congressional leaders to ensure all families have equal access to the education that meets their child’s unique needs.”

Even some school choice proponents assailed the plan saying it offered no benefits for poor families who have little choice in where they send their children to school. One (Mike Petrilli of the right-leaning Thomas B. Fordham Institute) said the plan appears to benefit families who can afford to save for private school, such as Trump (whose son goes to a private school) or DeVos (who never attended public schools or never sent her kids to public schools).

Point Two: Public education advocates expressed concern about a provision in the tax proposal that eliminates the federal deduction for state and local taxes. By increasing the federal tax burden on individuals, advocates worry that states, counties and cities will have a tougher time raising money for schools, which get most of their money from state and local tax revenues.

When people can no longer deduct what they pay in [state and local] taxes, their willingness and ability to pay those taxes is eroded (said one expert at the American Association of School Administrators).

Separately, teacher unions assailed a proposal to scrap a tax deduction that allows workers to deduct certain out-of-pocket job expenses from their taxes. FYI: In many cases, teachers spend nearly $500 a year of their own money on school supplies, according to studies, and many use the $250 deduction to lighten their tax burden.

Impact: As many educators spend more and more of their own funds each year to buy basic essentials, Republicans chose to ignore that sacrifice and take away their tax deduction to help offset no public money for adequate books, pencils, paper, and art supplies (said the president of the NEA).

The USSC on this general topic vis-à-vis the Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center in Missouri preschool and daycare center decision:

DeVos celebrated the Trinity decision as a victory for the school choice movement, which has gained momentum and stands to expand under Trump.

The president’s budget features a $1.4 billion school choice package that includes millions of dollars in vouchers that low-income families could use to send their children to private, religious schools.

Ms. DeVos, a staunch supporter of vouchers who attended and sent her children to religious schools, said the decision affirmed that “religious discrimination in any form cannot be tolerated in a society that values the First Amendment.”

“We should all celebrate the fact that programs designed to help students will no longer be discriminated against by the government based solely on religious affiliation,” Ms. DeVos said.

The Trinity Lutheran Church Child Learning Center had been operated by the church since 1985, and the roughly 90 2- to 5-year-olds come from a range of religions. The center applied for $20,000 to resurface its playground from a scrap tire program run by Missouri’s Department of Natural Resources.

While the center ranked highest among grant applicants, the department rejected its application because it was a religious institution.

“The consequence is, in all likelihood, a few extra scraped knees,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. “But the exclusion of Trinity Lutheran from a public benefit for which it is otherwise qualified, solely because it is a church, is odious to our Constitution all the same, and cannot stand.”

But in a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, argued that the decision was not just about a playground. The opinion noted that the center advertised that the learning center serves as “a ministry of the church and incorporates daily religion and developmentally appropriate activities.” Justice Sotomayor said the Trinity decision blurred the lines between church and state, and was a “radical mistake.”

Related to school vouchers and religious schools paid for from tax dollars – another view.

Finally, as I have stated numerous times and will continue to say, Betsy DeVos is the worse education secretary in American history. I’m pretty sure thousands of others agree with that assessment, but she does give tons of money to the GOP and multi-millions to Trump.

So, shame on this all GOP-run government, Trump on down, for they hypocritical BS about “serving the people and helping all Americans” – what a crock of crap they keep selling – sadly many still buy it.

For this bill alone, none of them who voted yes should ever be reelected to office never again. Hopefully the public is wide awake now will express that sentiment at the polls over the next few cycles.

Stay tuned and thanks for stopping by.