rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/letter/betsy-devos-is-not-qualified-to-be-secretary-of-education?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-letter-area-betsy-devos-is-not-qualified-to-be-secretary-of-education' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> People Demanding Action https://actionnetwork.org/groups/pdaction https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/share_options/facebook_images/000/036/646/original/BetsyDevos.jpg Betsy Devos has no relevant experience as an educator; she did not attend or send her children to public school. She is not a teacher and has no degrees in Education. Instead DeVos is a right-wing voucher and charter school activist whose numerous projects include the disastrous effort to spread charters in Detroit, which failed to increase student achievement while allowing charters to operate with little accountability or oversight. DeVos and her family have continued to push to limit accountability and oversight of charters.While most other states monitor charters’ results, hold them accountable for poor performance and require them to renew their charters, schools in Michigan can operate as long as they want, and the state exercises minimal oversight. Our young people are drowning in student debt. Betsy DeVos is unfit and unqualified to manage student loan programs and through them America's future. DeVos’ record on civil rights is as appalling as her record on education. She has funded a number of anti-LGBTQ organizations that oppose marriage equality.5 She was also supportive of the legal case to overturn affirmative action in Michigan that went all the way to the Supreme Court and resulted in sweeping limits on race-based admissions policies at universities across the country.6 Equal access to high-quality education is one of the cornerstone promises of our democracy. We have a long way to go and much work to do before it’s a promise that is reliably and consistently fulfilled for children of color, children whose first language is not English and children living in poverty. Putting Betsy DeVos at the helm of the Department of Education puts the promise itself at risk. References: Douglas N. Harris, "Betsy DeVos and the Wrong Way to Fix Schools,” The New York Times, Nov, 25, 2016. Valerie Strauss, "A sobering look at what Betsy DeVos did to education in Michigan — and what she might do as secretary of education,” Dec. 8, 2016. Kristina Rizga, "Trump's Billionaire Education Secretary Has Been Trying to Gut Public Schools for Years," Mother Jones, Nov. 29, 2016. Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, "Democratic senators press Trump’s education pick Betsy DeVos to pay years-old $5.3 million fine,” Washington Post, Dec. 14, 2016. Nidhi Prakash, "Trump’s pick to run the department of education could spell disaster for LGBTQ students," Fusion, Nov. 29, 2016. Rock Docksai, "School Choice, But Much More: Making Sense of DeVos Family Philanthropy,” Inside Philanthropy, March 1, 2016. https://actionnetwork.org/letters/betsy-devos-is-not-qualified-to-be-secretary-of-education