DETROIT – Betsy DeVos was confirmed Tuesday as secretary of education after Vice President Mike Pence had to break a 50-50 tie, a situation that has never happened before in a cabinet nomination.
The reaction to DeVos' confirmation has been heated.
Negative always seems to outweigh positive on social media, but the DeVos confirmation has gotten comments suggesting no child is ever going to get a quality education ever again. Yet even some of her detractors feel there is a positive way forward.
"As secretary of education, who's against public education?" David Hecker, of the American Federation of Teachers, said.
Many teachers are outraged by the confirmation, saying DeVos will set public education in America back decades.
"I have never seen, concerning any nominee to any cabinet post, such an uprising throughout the country in opposition," Hecker said.
But America was already lagging in education. Maybe a choice outside the mainstream is what the country needs. The head of Michigan's charter schools thinks that's the case.
"We're confident that she's going to be an excellent and effective advocate for every student in America," Dan Quisenberry, of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, said. "She has put the interests of kids before adults, parents before institutions and students' success before politics."
But the head of the American Federation of Teachers worries about DeVos taking her policy in Michigan to the national level.
"It's a policy that defunds public schools, that wants to turn public schools into private, for-profit charters -- charters that could open up anytime, anywhere with no accountability," Hecker said.
Facebook exploded with negativity Tuesday, but among the positive comments favoring DeVos, many echoed Breda Deliso, who wrote, "We elected a businessman instead of a politician to fix the mess that Obama made, and I have no doubt that he will do a great job. Why not a businesswoman?"
"I don't think anyone voted for Trump based on education issues," Hecker said.
Ivy Bailey, the head of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, said so far, DeVos hasn't been a positive for Detroit schools. But Bailey said she'd love to see DeVos come to the city and visit a variety of schools and compare their progress, review resources and talk with students, parents and community members.
A visit to Detroit would give DeVos a firsthand view of the glaring disparity between schools, Bailey said. She said DeVos' first charge should be to look at how schools are funded.
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