Commentary: Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall spoke on the Senate floor in opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education. In his speech, Udall said that he will vote against DeVos because she lacks the qualifications, the knowledge and the commitment to public education to serve as an effective advocate for students in New Mexico and across the country.
"I believe in the public school system. I want all of our children to have opportunities. That is the fundamental principle of our American school system: everyone should be able to get a great education,” Udall said. "Mrs. DeVos wants to dismantle our public schools. She would drain resources from the children and teachers who need it most. Mr. President, I can’t say it strongly enough: a vote for Mrs. DeVos is a vote to destroy our public school system."
“My constituents agree. We have received over 6,300 emails and over 2,000 telephone calls in the last month alone opposing this nomination,” Udall continued. "These are record numbers for my office for a cabinet nominee. Many of those calls and letters are from public school parents and teachers, men and women who are dedicated to our students and our public education system. They understand that Betsy DeVos is not qualified to lead our nation’s public education system.”
Udall has also led the effort to push for DeVos to comply with rules requiring her to disclose information about her personal conflicts of interest and her political activities as the leader of a multi-million dollar political effort to influence elections throughout our nation. DeVos’ political action committee (PAC) willfully ignored campaign finance laws and warnings from state election officers in Ohio and racked up an unprecedented $5.3 million fine as a result. But rather than acknowledging that she broke the law and owning up to her responsibility to pay it, her PAC simply folded up shop, and the fine still has not been paid. DeVos has also failed to adequately respond to multiple requests from Udall and other senators to explain why she has left the fine unpaid.
The full text of Udall’s speech as prepared for delivery is below.
“Mr. President. I rise in strong opposition to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of the Department of Education.
“Mrs. DeVos is nominated to lead our nation’s public education system. Yet, she has worked for decades to privatize it – and even to create profit-making centers.
“She wants to siphon public funds to private schools, and has led a multi-million lobbying campaign to fund private, religious, and for-profit schools with public education dollars.
“We can all agree that we want our nation’s schools to be the best they can be. We want our children to have all of the opportunities we can provide.
“But that is the issue. That is why Democrats have held the floor all night long, to do everything in our power to convince the Senate to reject this nomination.
“I believe in the public school system. I want all of our children to have opportunities. That is the fundamental principle of our American school system: everyone should be able to get a great education.
“Mrs. DeVos wants to dismantle our public schools. She would drain resources from the children and teachers who need it most.
“Mr. President, I can’t say it strongly enough: A vote for Mrs. DeVos is a vote to destroy our public school system.
“My constituents agree. We have received over 6,300 emails and over 2,000 telephone calls – in the last month alone – opposing this nomination. These are record numbers for my office for a cabinet nominee. Many of those calls and letters are from public school parents and teachers, men and women who are dedicated to our students and our public education system. They understand that Betsy DeVos is not qualified to lead our nation’s public education system.
“Betsy DeVos is the first nominee in history for Secretary of Education with no experience in education or public administration. She is not a teacher. She is not a school administrator. She didn’t attend public schools. Her children didn’t attend public schools. She has never held a government position, let alone one in education. In fact, she has open disdain for government.
“Mrs. DeVos’s complete lack of experience and profound lack of understanding of education policy were on full display during her confirmation hearing.
“Under questioning, it was clear that Mrs. DeVos was completely un-informed about the ongoing debate in education policy between ‘proficiency’ and ‘growth.’ This issue is critical.
“It is well documented there is a correlation between test scores and students’ socioeconomic status and race. So, evaluating schools based on average test scores tends to penalize schools with large numbers of lower-income and racial minority students, even if those schools produce significant student growth on math and reading test scores.
“Proficiency or growth is one of the most basic education policy questions. And yet the President’s nominee for Secretary of Education doesn’t understand the issue.
“Maybe this is because she has been single-mindedly focused on feeding private, for-profit charter schools with public dollars, and religious and other private schools through vouchers. And so her knowledge about education is limited to her pet issue.
“Valerie Siow, who has taught in the public schools in New Mexico for 13 years, observed that Mrs. DeVos ‘had not bothered to do her homework’ for the hearing.
“It is clear that Mrs. DeVos does not have the breadth or depth in education policy or finance to be Secretary.
“Mr. President, Senator Hassan has a son with cerebral palsy. She told us a moving story about the good education he received in the New Hampshire public schools despite his disability because of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA.
“Senator Hassan asked if Mrs. DeVos would require schools using vouchers to comply with that law. Mrs. Devos initially responded that she believes the decision should be left to the states. When Mrs. DeVos was informed that it is federal law, not up to the states, he responded she must have been ‘confused.’
“‘Confused?’ Mrs. DeVos brags she has been an education advocate for 30 years. The IDEA was passed over 25 years ago, in 1990. Mrs. DeVos was not ‘confused.’ She plainly did not know what the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is.
“It is very disturbing that she appears not to know how public schools educate and accommodate kids with special needs. Does she not know what an Individual Education Plan is? She didn’t know as she sat in a hearing to be Secretary of Education that the millions of public children with disabilities have a federal right to a free and appropriate education.
“It is just as troublesome that Mrs. DeVos did not know that children with disabilities can lose their federal right to an equal education under state voucher programs, voucher programs she’s spent years advocating for.
“She did not know that voucher programs can require students with disabilities to sign away their IDEA rights. And most troubling of all, she would not commit to making sure voucher programs comply with the law.
“I am also quite concerned that Mrs. DeVos fails to appreciate the important role that tribal cultures and heritages play in educating Native American children. This nation has a solemn trust and treaty responsibility to provide quality education to Native students – both through the public school system and the federal Bureau of Indian Education. Her testimony has proven that she is uneducated about these students as well.
“My home state of New Mexico has a Native American population over 10 percent. And, as Vice-chair of the Indian Affairs Committee, my job is to make sure any Education Secretary is committed to respecting tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
“Mrs. DeVos has given me no assurance she understands, cares about, or is prepared to address the needs of Native American students. Nothing in her hearing or written answers convinced me that she will respect tribal cultures and heritages, or tribes’ sovereignty and right to self-determination.
“In fact, her lobby organization, American Federation for Children, supports the expansion of vouchers into Indian County – diverting money from tribal school for private schools. I cannot support taking money away from schools run by tribes, and losing self-determination.
“The National Indian Education Association has said, ‘Federal funding should not be moving over to a private school system, [those funds should not] move out of our tribally-run school system and to a system that does not require consultation and does not require active engagement of Native communities.’ I agree.
“Betsy DeVos seems to be driven by her personal religious views. I respect the strength of her Dutch Calvinist religious beliefs. But her imposing her religious beliefs should have no place in funding public education, which serves children of all beliefs.
“In 2001, she talked about whether Christian schools should continue relying on contributions instead of vouchers. Mrs. DeVos said, ‘There are not enough philanthropic dollars in America to fund what is currently the need in education…Our desire is to confront the culture in ways that will continue to advance God's kingdom.’
“I support her right to devote her philanthropic dollars to her church and other religious efforts. But, I oppose her view of using public dollars to advance her view of ‘God’s kingdom’ in public schools.
“Separation of church and state is a fundamental principle in our democracy, to protect people and communities from religious coercion by the government. And I am concerned that Mrs. DeVos does not have the necessary respect for other people’s religious beliefs, and that her policies could disregard the importance of tribal perspectives on education.
“We need assurance that every public school student, no matter their religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or identity, ability or disability, will be respected, protected, and included at the highest levels in Washington, D.C. That is the job of the Secretary of Education. Mrs. DeVos has not shown over the many decades she has lobbied on education that she agrees with this basic proposition.
“Mr. President, I support making good quality public school options available. There are many great public charter and magnet schools around the country.
“But, these public schools should meet the same accountability standards as other public schools - standards for student achievement, teacher performance, and fiscal responsibility.
“I also support the option of private and religious schools. We have great private and religious schools in our country. But public dollars must go to public schools, not private or religious schools, and certainly not for private for-profit schools. The first objective of any for-profit venture is to make money. That cannot be the first objective of a school using public funds. The first and foremost objective of public education funds must be education of students.
“And when public dollars are used, their use must be fully accountable and transparent to the public. Betsy DeVos would not commit that private for-profit charter schools and voucher schools should have the same accountability standards as public schools.
“Why didn’t she make this commitment? Likely because the private charter schools in Michigan funded by public dollars that she has championed for decades do not have to meet the same accountability standards as public schools. This is wrong.
“These same schools, her work for decades, have not shown appreciable gains in Michigan over the years. In fact, Michigan test scores have gone down over time. These schools have not shown significant improvement over public schools in Michigan.
“Finally, M. President, I am not convinced that Mrs. DeVos has been transparent in her responses to the American public. She did not make her disclosures available to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee at the time of her confirmation hearing. This is unprecedented. And the Committee had no opportunity to look into her many, many financial conflicts.
“Since then, she has entered into an agreement with the Office of Government Ethics. And, while she will divest from approximately 100 investments that pose a conflict, we do not know if she has divested from all conflicts. Mrs. DeVos benefits from 3 trusts. She has not disclosed the assets in 2 of those trusts.
“The complexity and enormity of the DeVos’s $5 billion dollar holdings is mind-boggling. We know from one trust at least 100 conflicts required divestment. Without transparency in the other trusts, the public does not know if she has any more conflicts.
“Mr. President, I also want to raise the issue of Mrs. DeVos’ unwillingness to address her PAC’s unpaid $5.3 million fine in the state of Ohio for violating campaign finance laws.
“This situation is troubling on a number of levels. First, Mrs. DeVos led a multi-million political effort to influence elections throughout our nation.
“Second, while doing so, Mrs. DeVos’ PAC willfully ignored campaign finance laws and warnings from state election officers. She racked up an unprecedented $5.3 million fine in Ohio.
“And third, rather than acknowledging that she broke the law and owning up to her responsibility to pay it, her PAC simply folded up shop, and walked away.
“Mr. President, as Secretary of Education, Mrs. DeVos will be responsible for overseeing college loans for millions of students. Yet she refuses to acknowledge – or pay – her own debts. Does she believe the law doesn’t apply to her?
“I’ve written to Mrs. DeVos, and the HELP Committee, several times demanding answers about this. Her responses were evasive. She refuses to pay the fine, hiding behind the corporate veil, while still paying lawyers to fight it. This is hypocrisy, on top of disregard for the law.
“We have never had a cabinet nominee who led a dark money PAC, which broke the law and flouted the judicial system. Totally unprecedented.
“Mr. President, for all these reasons, I must vote no on confirmation of Mrs. DeVos as Secretary of the Department of Education.
“I yield the floor.”