Betsy DeVos, who formerly served as Education Secretary under President Trump, has asserted that eliminating the Department of Education should serve as a cornerstone of the Republican Party platform.
According to a report from the Washington Examiner, DeVos firmly believes that the massive federal spending on education has done little to close significant achievement gaps that are widespread across public schools.
The former education secretary noted that the federal government has spent a staggering $1T on educational investment over the past four decades, though this money appears to have been poorly invested.
In light of the rise of CRT, LGBTQ, and other questionable elements in the schools’ curriculum, it becomes clear that achievement gaps are likely to grow even further, especially as students fail to learn critical thinking and analytical skills
The aftermath of the pandemic has been particularly powerful in illustrating how the achievement gaps have grown, according to DeVos.
“Before the pandemic, the achievement gaps hadn’t narrowed one little bit,” DeVos intoned, “in fact, they were widened in most cases.”
DeVos made her incendiary remarks regarding the Department of Education while having a conversation with reporters at the Young America’s Foundation National Conservative Student Conference, where she strongly urged the importance of parental involvement and the states in setting the path of students’ education.
“We have to stop doing what we’ve been doing and do something completely different,” DeVos declared, in reference to the massive federal expenditures on education.
The former education secretary also took aim at Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, who has grown notorious for her overly zealous use of lockdowns, which in turn has negatively impacted the state’s educational system.
As a result, DeVos anticipates Whitmer facing a fierce challenge from Republican Tudor Dixon in the upcoming primary elections in Michigan, who may well play an important role in undoing the “disaster” that Whitmer brought upon the state.
“Education is going to be a very key issue in Michigan, and those [Whitmer and Dixon] could not be more diametrically opposed on what they think the solutions are,” DeVos declared, noting that Dixon strongly favors parental empowerment.
