On Tuesday, longtime conservative donor Betsy DeVos will field questions from members of the Senate during her confirmation hearing as Trump’s appointed education secretary.
According to Politico, the bulk of DeVos’s education experience is in pushing her “school choice” vision, which emphasizes charter schools and programs that allocate taxpayer dollars for private schools, rather than public schools. The billionaire philanthropist has also chaired the Michigan GOP and the American Federation for Children, a charter school advocacy group.
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DeVos will likely be grilled by Democrats on the committee Thursday about her lack of experience in public and higher education, as well as transgender issues in schools.
On Monday, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, who sits on the committee, wrote a letter criticizing DeVos’s credentials and setting the tone for Tuesday’s questioning.
“There is no precedent for an Education Department secretary nominee with your lack of experience in public education,” Warren wrote. “As such, your nomination provides the Senate and the public with few clues about your actual policy positions on a host of critical issues.”
Check out the livestream below via PBS NewsHour, set to start at 5 PM EST.
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