Betsy DeVos and the GOP's Plan to Destroy Public Schools

[Celerity]

“School choice” is a rhetorical dodge. It’s actually all about entrenching right-wing power, control, and Christian nationalism.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/betsy-devos-and-the-gops-plan-to-destroy-public-schools



“Republicans are trying to dismantle public education which educates 90% of American kids. That’s the end game, folks,” I recently tweeted upon hearing billionaire Betsy DeVos, Trump’s former Secretary of Education, admit: “I personally think the Department of Education”—which she used to run—“should not exist.” The comment shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s been following the GOP’s 70-year crusade to dismantle and privatize our public education system.

Link to tweet

After Brown v. Board of Education ruled that segregation was unconstitutional, white supremacy ignited the right-wing culture war that burns across the nation in 2022 with battles over textbooks, critical race theory, school boards, mask mandates, and diversity initiatives. But instead of deploying the overtly racist tactics of the mid-20th century, the GOP now filters its agenda through racially neutral Trojan Horse slogans such as “school choice” and “parental choice.” The latter helped Republican Glenn Youngkin win the governorship of Virginia, and suburban parents have been successfully weaponized by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts to ban books, punish teachers, and help kids avoid “liberal indoctrination” by ignoring the existence of gay people.

DeVos was simply being true to form when she made her recent remarks at a Moms for Liberty summit, a training site for conservative activists to learn how to create majorities on local school boards. For years, she has zealously spent her millions on “education reform” and created the blueprint for Republican state legislatures. Specifically, she has been an evangelist for “school choice,” arguably the main policy focus of the 2020 Republican National Convention—which famously had no platform except to “enthusiastically endorse” Donald Trump.



School choice advocates like DeVos want to funnel public funds and resources to private schools and charter schools and away from public schools, which educate the majority of American children. Although Republicans claim their pursuit of “school choice” is to help the children, one should be wise enough to know by now that Republicans—who oppose the child tax credit, gun control, and food stamps—only care about the pre-born. Once you’re out of the womb, you have to pull yourself up from your bootstraps and run for your life to avoid mass shootings.




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