Secretary Betsy DeVos advocates for school choice in letter to America's parents
Renewed focus on school choice amid COVID pandemic; Education Secretary Betsy DeVos shares insight with Martha MacCallum on 'The Story.'
School choice has become a growing topic of conversation as kids begin returning to class amid the coronavirus pandemic, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told “The Story" Tuesday.
“Parents are demanding more choices today as their schools across the country are not serving them and the needs of their students,” she told host Martha MacCallum. “So the demand for school choice and giving parents the control for their kids' future is continuing to grow. And it's a really important point in time.”
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Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has expressed his opposition to federal funding for for-profit charter schools. But DeVos said Tuesday that the former vice president probably doesn’t remember supporting the cause decades ago.
“In 1997, he gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor in favor of school choice,” she said. “Today, he’s turned his back on the kids ... and he's turned his face in favor of the teachers union and what they have to say and what they have to demand – and it's really shameful.”
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In New York City, the reopening of public schools has been pushed back to Sept. 21 in order to provide the necessary resources and funding to reopen. However, DeVos said, the CARES Act enacted earlier this year already included what was needed.
“There were $13 billion in the CARES Act that have gone primarily, largely unspent so far and that can certainly be applied to getting kids back to school,” she said. “It's an excuse, for the most part, and the reality is that parents and their kids are being held hostage and captive in too many places by the teacher’s union’s fears and their own agendas."
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