Yes, President Elect Donald Trump’s selection of Betsy DeVos to serve as his education secretary is from my hometown, but her appointment has a deeper meaning to me.
The selection of Betsy DeVos to be Trump’s secretary of education was good news for families with school-age children. (Dean Ange agroportal-pt)
I hope and believe DeVos will be the one who will stop Common Core in its tracks and return education decisions to the states and local communities, but most of all I hope the results will sound the death knell for teachers’ unions.
As someone who believes unions have outlived their usefulness, I have long believed that teachers’ unions were more interested in the pay and working conditions of its members than the education of our children.
In 2009, I wrote an op-ed in which I quoted the remarks of Bob Chanin upon his retirement as general counsel of the National Education Association (NEA). It’s appropriate today that I revive those remarks in this post. You can see it on You Tube.
Posing the question as to why the NEA had been such an effective organization, Chanin said, “It is not because of creative ideas, it is not because of the merit of our position, it is not because we care about children, it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child.
NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power, and we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year because they believe we are the union that can effectively represent them.”
Chanin’s remarks made little news seven years ago. I hope, by again spotlighting them, I can shed more light on one of the biggest elements challenging the educational success of our children – teachers’ unions
DeVos is our best hope for public education’s future. She simply believes that a student’s education should not be limited to the zip code in which the family resides.
Unlike the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which is focused on the well-being of the dues-payer in the classroom, DeVos is the chairwoman of the American Federation for Children (AFC), an organization dedicated to helping parents choose the best school for their kids.
Her early success in getting the attention of our legislators can be judged in part by the fact that her organization’s investment in 121 races in 12 states in the 2016 election produced an 89 per cent win rate. The fact that Republicans control 33 governorships and both legislative chambers in 32 states will help DeVos and the Trump administration bring choice to education.
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