U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. only served in his job for about a year. But in that time he’s helped lay the groundwork for implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the first reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in more than a decade.
And he’s traveled to more than 30 states, used his bully pulpit to argue for equitable access to education, and butted heads with education groups and Republicans in Congress over a wonky—but important—spending provision in ESSA.
In a sit-down interview, King and I talked about everything from the Obama…
Monday is the first full weekday that the Trump administration is in control of the U.S. Department of Education. And there are major questions about what the new crew—including some 150 political appointees, who have yet to be named—will mean for everything from the big data sets, like the Civil Rights Data Collection, to day-to-day work of the more than 4,000 career employees who stayed behind after the Obama administration cleared out last week.
Here’s a quick rundown on where things stand in Washington:
Who’s in Charge?
The department’s career staff is still running the show. That’s because Trump’s pick to lead the department, Betsy DeVos, hasn’t been approved by the U.S. Senate yet. The Senate education committee has delayed a vote on her confirmation, originally slated for Jan. 24, to Jan. 31, to give senators time to review her now-finalized ethics paperwork. Democrats, who lamented that they weren’t given enough time to question DeVos during her hearing last week, pushed unsuccessfully on Monday for another hearing so that lawmakers could ask her any questions that emerged from the paperwork.
Filling the secretary slot for now is a long-time career employee, Philip Rosenfelt, the deputy general counsel for program service in the office of the general counsel. Rosenfelt has worked on education issues since before there even was a U.S. Department of Education…
The regulation, which was finalized in November, doesn’t take effect until Jan. 30. On Inauguration Day, the White House issued an executive order delaying for up to 60 days the implementation of any Obama regulations that haven’t yet taken effect.
The delay in the accountability regulations, which would seem to last until late March, could throw a monkey wrench into states’ efforts to submit their accountability plans by April 3, the first of two deadlines set by the administration. The regulations outline the process for submitting plans, and flesh out details that aren’t included in the law. So far, 17 states and the District of Columbia have said they want to submit their plans in April…
Betsy DeVos gave education policy and politics watchers lots to talk about after her confirmation hearing for education secretary on Tuesday. She provided detailed arguments about Michigan charter schools and school accountability in that state, and for how she’d be a “crusader” for parents and students rather than the education establishment. DeVos also made waves for her comments on special education law and states’ responsibilities in that area.
But there were also areas of K-12 policy where DeVos gave general or somewhat limited answers to senators’ question. Perhaps it’s not surprising that in several respects, DeVos didn’t want to spell out detailed views on every issue raised, in part because she might have worried that she would come across as prejudging certain situations. And sometimes, senators left notable issues out of their lines of questioning.
Still, DeVos’ comments at the hearing leave some interesting questions about her positions. Here are some areas where questions about DeVos might be lingering…
That big fight over spending rules for the Every Student Succeeds Act has ended not with a bang, but a whimper: U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. is throwing in the towel, withdrawing a proposed regulation for a section of the law known as “supplement-not-supplant” that had strong backing in the civil rights community, but angered state chiefs, advocates for districts, and Republicans in Congress.
The proposal was all but certain to be tossed by a Republican-backed Congress and the Trump administration.
The department’s draft rule, released in August, would have pushed for districts and states to make sure they were spending roughly same amount of money—including for teachers’ salaries—in schools that serve a sizeable population of poor students and less-poor schools…
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have told the U.S. Department of Education that they are aiming to file their plans for implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act by early April, in time for the first deadline set by the Obama administration.
Those states are Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont, plus the District of Columbia.
States have spent the past year reaching out to educators and advocates to decide how to handle everything from teacher effectiveness to school ratings to that brand new indicator of student success and school quality…
Hundreds of educators, parents, civil rights activists, and U.S. senators assembled across from the U.S. Capitol on Monday evening to urge “just one more” senator to stand up and cast the deciding ‘no’ vote on Betsy DeVos as U.S. Education Secretary. Coming on the eve of the confirmation vote, the rally was the final exclamation point of a nationwide mobilization against a nominee whom educators consider dangerously unqualified to lead our public schools.
With all 48 Democrats already united against her, DeVos was suddenly hanging by a thread. Only one more GOP vote was needed.
Already deluged with emails and phone calls, senate offices from both parties were hit again over the weekend.
“Your calls and outreach have been amazing,” Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut told the rally on Monday evening. “You’ve really freaked out a lot of my GOP colleagues.”
In the end, however, that last ‘no’ vote proved elusive. DeVos was confirmed on Tuesday when Vice President Mike Pence had to cast a vote to break the 50-50 deadlock – the first time in the nation’s history this action was necessary to approve a cabinet nominee.
Despite the disappointing outcome, the mobilization against DeVos shook Capitol Hill and the White House.
“In my years as a public education advocate, I have never witnessed this level of public outcry,” said NEA President Lily Eskelsen García. “The nomination has touched a raw nerve not only with public education advocates like me but with the general public as well.”
The level of engagement – which ran deep and across party lines – was nothing short of astounding.
“Our students, my passion, our schools are not for sale,” Maryland educator Henoch Hailu told the anti-DeVos rally on February 6.
Educators, parents and allies sent more than 1 million letters via NEA’s activism site and made 80,000 phone calls in 4 weeks, urging senators to vote no. Opposition swelled nationally, and senators reported that the three days ending last week resulted in the most calls into the Capitol switchboard in history.
“Americans across the nation drove a bipartisan repudiation of the Trump-DeVos agenda for students and public education,” remarked Eskelsen García after the vote on Tuesday. “This marks only the beginning of the resistance.”
From Shoo-In to Deadlock
Nominees for cabinet positions, let alone for Education Secretary, rarely generate this intense level of opposition. Then again, no recent nominee seemed so utterly unfit for the post as Betsy DeVos.
DeVos is the first secretary of education with zero experience with public schools. None of her children attended public school. She’s never worked in a public school. She’s never been a teacher or a school administrator, nor served on any public board of education.
While the spiraling concerns over DeVos weren’t enough to deliver the 51st vote necessary to ultimately defeat the nomination, there’s little doubt that DeVos emerges from the confirmation battle a weakened figure.
More disqualifying, however, is her long, well-established record of trying to dismantle the public education system she is now charged with overseeing. The billionaire DeVos family, a top donor to the Michigan Republican Party, has led the charge for privatization by bankrolling multiple efforts to bring voucher schemes and unregulated charter schools to their state.
It was DeVos’ long record of anti-public education activism that triggered swift and immediate opposition as soon as then President-elect Donald Trump announced her nomination on Nov. 23. Still, few observers in Washington saw any major potholes on her road to confirmation. But educators and parents’ full-court press was only just getting started.
“The fact that the nominee for secretary of education did not know how the federal government protects special education students is infuriating,” Henoch Hailu, an educator from Maryland, told the protestors on Monday.
DeVos also refused to rule out cutting public school funding to pay for school voucher programs and she shocked many when she hedged on upholding the 2011 Title IX guidance as it relates to sexual assault on campus. Her bizarre response to a question about gun violence that firearms should be allowed in schools to protect students against grizzly bears became a popular Internet meme.
Activists were emboldened by DeVos’ disastrous performance and a steady drip of unfavorable press soon followed. The news got even worse for the nominee when it was revealed that she had plagiarized some of her written responses to her Senate questionnaire. In addition, DeVos continued to be hounded by questions about unresolved conflict-of-interest issues over her financial holdings. Two former ethics counsels to Presidents Obama and George W. Bush wrote in “The Hill”: “Seldom have we seen a worse cabinet-level ethics mess than that presented by Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s choice for education secretary.”
The Trump-DeVos Agenda: Still Unacceptable
While the spiraling concerns over DeVos weren’t enough to deliver the 51st vote necessary to ultimately defeat the nomination, there’s little doubt that DeVos emerges from the confirmation battle in many respects a hobbled and weakened figure. As Politico reported last week:
“Historically, education secretaries have seized the secretary’s bully pulpit and traveled around the nation to promote their ideas. But that may be more challenging for DeVos…. Her poor performance during her confirmation hearing reinforced concerns about her lack of conventional classroom experience and commitment to public schools.”
Still, anyone who has followed DeVos over the years will tell you that she is resourceful and relentless. She was undeterred in 2000 when 69 percent of Michigan voters rejected a change to the constitution that would have opened the door to vouchers. DeVos turned instead to funding voucher programs in other states and lifting the cap on charter schools – without any safeguards for accountability or transparency. As Education Secretary, DeVos will be charged with amassing support for President Trump’s $20 million proposal to expand charter schools and vouchers.
But the confirmation battle exposed not only DeVos’ lack of qualifications and preparedness, but also her extreme ideology. As Secretary of Education, DeVos will for the first time face a new, previously unfamiliar constraint: accountability.
“America is speaking out. The level of energy is palpable,” said Eskelsen García. “We are going to watch what Betsy DeVos does. And we are going to hold her accountable for the actions and decisions she makes on behalf of the more than 50 million students in our nation’s public schools.”
Hundreds of educators, parents, civil rights activists, and U.S. senators assembled across from the U.S. Capitol on Monday evening to urge “just one more” senator to stand up and cast the deciding ‘no’ vote on Betsy DeVos as U.S. Education Secretary. Coming on the eve of the confirmation vote, the rally was the final exclamation point of a nationwide mobilization against a nominee whom educators consider dangerously unqualified to lead our public schools.