The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the US Secretary of Education would be a disaster for public education. Her advocacy for more unaccountable charter schools and greater use of vouchers so that students could attend private or religious schools would take needed resources away from local public schools. Her mission, in short, is to privatize public education. DeVos should be opposed not only for what she could do, if confirmed, but for what she’s done in Michigan. The DeVos family set up the Great Lakes Education Project which has played a leading role in thwarting efforts to regulate charter schools in Detroit which have for the most part failed to deliver on their promise of a better education for students.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/29/us/for-detroits-children-more-school-choice-but-not-better-schools.html

Her nomination is also a slap in the face to the taxpayers of Ohio to whom she owes $5.3 million in fines and late fees. The Ohio Elections Commission found that DeVos violated state law by contributing $870,000 to an unregistered political action committee (PAC) in Ohio in 2008 from a PAC in Virginia that she directed.

Senator Sherrod Brown has called on DeVos to pay the money she owes, and we urge Senator Rob Portman to do the same. This is not a partisan issue. Ohio’s Republican Attorney General has also tried to collect the fines from DeVos.

If you agree that Betsy DeVos should not be confirmed as the US Secretary of Education, please sign this petition.

Thank you.