{"id":31765,"date":"2017-01-18T09:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=31765"},"modified":"2017-01-18T09:23:34","modified_gmt":"2017-01-18T13:23:34","slug":"devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html","title":{"rendered":"DeVos on Accountability and the Right to an Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

DeVos\u2019s confirmation hearings are this week. DeVos, Trump\u2019s nominee for Secretary of Education,\u00a0has come in for a lot of criticism given her lack of experience with public schools (she has never attended, sent a child to, or worked at a public school) and her commitment to public charter schools and voucher programs. DeVos has refused to say that she supports public schools, and is a strong advocate of diverting public monies away from the public schools. She has also suggested that\u00a0public schools are de facto\u00a0inappropriate for the education Christian children.<\/p>\n

During her confirmation hearings, DeVos had this to say<\/a> of accountability:<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cIf confirmed will you insist upon equal accountability in any K-12 school or educational program that receives taxpayer funding whether public, public charter or private?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cI support accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cEqual accountability?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cI support accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cIs that a yes or a no?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cI support accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cDo you not want to answer my question?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cI support accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cLet me ask you this. I think all schools that receive taxpayer funding should be equally accountable. Do you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cWell they don\u2019t, they are not today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cWell, I think they should. Do you agree with me?<\/p>\n

DeVos: \u201cWell no .\u2009.\u2009. \u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As I\u2019ve noted in the past, one of the biggest concerns\u00a0I have with charter schools, and with voucher funding for private schools, is the lack of accountability frequently in place for these schools. There are states that do not require private schools to receive any form of accreditation. Heck, some states don\u2019t even have<\/em> a state accreditation system for private schools. Other states\u2014DeVos\u2019s own Michigan in particular<\/a>\u2014require very little of charter schools in terms of accountability. In some states, charter schools have skimmed state money off the top<\/a>, providing little in the way of goods and services for their students.<\/p>\n

A quick review of state voucher laws<\/a> suggests that many (though not all) states with vouchers require participating public schools to have state accreditation, or other standards. This accountability question isn\u2019t something Kaine dreamed up out of thin air; it is a central question in the expansion of public funding of privately run schools. DeVos could have discussed her views, outlining what accountability she thinks should (and should not) be in place for privately run schools that receive public education funds. This is the sort of thing the senators who will vote on her confirmation need to know in order to make an informed choice. But she refused.<\/p>\n

Here is another concerning segment from the hearings:<\/p>\n

Kaine asked her if she believes that all schools that receive federal funding \u2014 whether public, public charter or private \u2014 should be required to meet the requirements of IDEA.<\/p>\n

She responded: \u201cI think they already are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine: \u201cBut I\u2019m asking you a should question. Whether they are or not, we\u2019ll get into that later.\u201d He then repeated his question.<\/p>\n

DeVos said: \u201cI think that is a matter that is best left to the states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaine responded: \u201cSo some states might be good to kids with disabilities and other states might not be so good and, what then, people can just move around the country if they don\u2019t like how kids are being treated?\u201d<\/p>\n

Devos repeated: \u201cI think that\u2019s an issue that\u2019s best left to the states.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This perhaps shouldn\u2019t be surprising. Returning to more state\u00a0and local control is a frequent conservative talking point. The trouble is that in this case we\u2019re talking about children with disabilities\u2019 right to a\u00a0free appropriate education (known as FAPE). Are rights\u00a0that aren\u2019t federally enforced really rights?<\/p>\n

Along with others\u00a0who support a strong system of public education, I\u2019m watching this week\u2019s hearings with grave concern.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DeVos’s confirmation hearings are this week. DeVos, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, has come in for a lot of criticism given her lack of experience with public schools (she has never attended, sent a child to, or worked at a public school) and her commitment to public charter schools and voucher programs.<\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":31771,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[34,248,261],"class_list":["post-31765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-dominion","tag-education","tag-public-school"],"yoast_head":"\nDeVos on Accountability and the Right to an Education<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Along with others who support a strong system of public education, I'm watching this week's hearings with grave concern.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DeVos on Accountability and the Right to an Education\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Along with others who support a strong system of public education, I'm watching this week's hearings with grave concern.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Love, Joy, Feminism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-18T13:23:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2017\/01\/art-1238602_1920.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Libby Anne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html\",\"name\":\"DeVos on Accountability and the Right to an Education\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-18T13:23:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-18T13:23:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\"},\"description\":\"Along with others who support a strong system of public education, I'm watching this week's hearings with grave concern.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/01\/devos-on-accountability-and-the-right-to-an-education.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"DeVos on Accountability and the Right to an Education\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/\",\"name\":\"Love, Joy, Feminism\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/#\/schema\/person\/fae465c1bbb5cbdf26c9e73bfd1b73d2\",\"name\":\"Libby Anne\",\"description\":\"Libby Anne grew up in a large evangelical homeschool family highly involved in the Christian Right. 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