Leading up to Betsy DeVos' confirmation as secretary of education Tuesday, public and private school programs throughout the country and in Athens have taken different stances on her policies.
Devos, who was confirmed after Vice President Mike Pence broke the 50-50 tie in the Senate's vote, has stances that mainly focus on funding and supporting school choice programs and vouchers. Her nomination and hearing led to most senators voting along party lines with an exception of two Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska who voted against confirming DeVos.
School choice programs provide students who are attending public schools the option to enroll in private, public or charter schools. Families can apply for vouchers, or state-sponsored scholarships, to cover part or all of their tuition. Ohio's five vouchers options have funds from the Ohio state budget to pay for them.
Athens County has no brick-and-mortar charter or private schools but Tom Gibbs,
“We have a population within Athens County that appreciates their school districts,” Gibbs said. “While we do have some students going to online charter schools, it’s not nearly at the level that you see in our more urban counterparts.”
School Choice Ohio, an organization that works closely with school selection, has helped families know their school and financial aid options. Kaleigh Lemaster, executive director of School Choice Ohio, said DeVos’ views on school choice is a reason she supports DeVos.
“Betsy DeVos has spent many years fighting on behalf of families across the nation, including here in Ohio, to ensure that every child has access to the quality education they deserve in the environment that is the best fit for their needs,” Lemaster said.
For Courtney Koestler, director of the Ohio Center for Equity in Mathematics and Science, it is hard to judge DeVos' policies and positions because of how little DeVos has shared.
“We obviously don’t have the information to judge her positions and policies, but what I’m concerned about is that it is clear she just doesn’t understand some key fundamental ideas of education,” said Koestler.
One of those ideas Koestler feels DeVos doesn’t understand is the Individuals with Disabilities Education
“(She was asked about) what she thought about the regulations and DeVos basically said ‘well it should be left up to the states,' ” said Koestler. “Which is a clear misunderstanding of what the federal law is about and how that protects the civil rights of students with disabilities.”
That is an act that impacts both K-12 as well as college students who are as old as 21 years old. The fact she has not been able to fully explain IDEA is concerning to the Students for Education Reform group at Ohio University, as well.
"We don’t believe that a secretary of education should be confused about policy, she should not be getting the IDEA confused with anything else,” Sarah
Past secretaries of education have helped implement different policies in the Appalachian portion of Ohio. Under former President Barack Obama, there were two secretaries of education, Arne Duncan and John King. Duncan was active in the implementation of the Ohio Appalachian
