MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Wisconsin’s top education official said Tuesday he doesn’t know whether Betsy DeVos is qualified to be U.S. Education secretary and he also is unsure whether she will advocate for public schools.
State Superintendent Tony Evers - who is officially nonpartisan but whose base of support has been Democrats, public school advocates and teachers unions - said it was unfortunate that he didn’t have the answers to those questions before the billionaire philanthropist was confirmed Tuesday by the U.S. Senate. Her appointment has become an issue in Evers’ re-election race, with both of his opponents praising the pick.
“We still don’t know much about Secretary DeVos,” Evers said in an interview. “I look forward to hearing from her.”
Evers’ position stands in contrast with his two opponents, voucher school advocates John Humphries and Lowell Holtz.
Humphries, a former Dodgeville schools administrator, said DeVos has a “great opportunity to help schools across the nation by reducing regulatory burdens that take the focus from students and teachers.” And Holtz, the former superintendent in Beloit and Whitnall, said her confirmation is a “positive development for the future of America’s children.”
Evers said DeVos’ dedication to public schools was a vacuum that “needs to be filled.”
“If she appears to be someone who is not an advocate, we’re going to do the best to make her one,” said Evers, who has spent his career working in public schools as a teacher, principal and superintendent. He’s been state superintendent overseeing the Department of Public Instruction since 2009. In that role, Evers has been an outspoken opponent of expanding Wisconsin’s private school voucher program.
The American Federation for Children, which DeVos chaired before being picked by President Donald Trump to be Education secretary, has been a leading advocate for school choice programs in Wisconsin and across the country.
Since 2010, the group has spent at least $4.5 million on campaigns in Wisconsin to elect Republicans and other school choice advocates, according to the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, voted to confirm DeVos while Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin voted against her. DeVos and her family have donated about $49,000 to Johnson.
Conservative groups in Wisconsin and advocates for the school choice program lauded the Senate’s confirmation of DeVos. Gov. Scott Walker, in his role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, also issued a statement calling her a “passionate supporter of education reform” and saying she will “work with the states to improve education for all Americans.”
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