[nfbmi-talk] "Betsy DeVos apparently ‘confused’ about federal law protecting students with disabilities - The Washington Post

[Terry D. Eagle]

With due respect, one need not consult C-SPAN to determine if Mrs. DeVoss is truly not qualified to shepard the education of all students, let alone the education of children and young adults with disabilities and minority children!

Mrs. DeVoss here in Michigan has a long record, mostly as two time chair of the Michigan Republican party, and the wealth of her family, as one of the two founders of the Amway Corporation, a firm that built Mrs. DeVoss' billions of dollar family wealth on the back of people in a pyrimiad scheme, disguised as a business opportunity for all Americans to achieve the American dream of financial independence, but made those at the bottom of the pyrimide making little or no money, while the DeVoss' and others at the top of the AMWAY pyrimide extremely wealthy.

Mrs. DeVoss, and her family and associates,  has used her massive wealth to buy public policy in the classical game of "Pay for Play" to obtain access and direct public policy into that which that she and the politically elite believe and expect from public policy makers and public administrators to achieve their self-serving goals.  Ironically, Mr. Trummp wailed against just such "Pay for Play" throughout the election campaign, as the fox dressed in sheep clothing, which voter were either unable or unwilling to discern, while desiring change in Washington from both Republicans and Democrats, to act as adults, stop the political gamesmanship,  and do the Peoples' in the House and Senate.

Well, those who wanted and voted for change to "drain the swamp" in Washington got their way with the like of Mrs. DeVoss.

Anyone familiar with Michigan politics knows Mrs. Betsy DeVoss and her husband, Richard, co-founder of the AMWAY Corporation, have, for three plus decades tried to use their massive wealth as their way to  gut public school education public policy and taxpayer funding, and replace it with a system described as "school choice", which is a political buzz word for giving the wealthy elite the the education public policy and purse-strings, through taxpayer funded vouchers, so parents can send children to private, charter, and public schools, without accountability standards for student achievement and teacher and administrator qualifications.  It should be noted that once-upon-a-time Richard (Dick) DeVoss ran for gobernor as the Republican candidate and lost the race.  Michigan voters were simply too informed about the DeVoss' desires, and have thus far rejected them as education public policy and taxpayer funding of public education.  Yet, many Michigan state legislators are beholdened and politicals slaves to the DeVoss' agenda, simply as a result of money that funded those Michigan legislators' political campaigns.

Michigan  nationally is being cited as an example as what the Trump and DeVoss education public policy would look like, with vouchers for use in private, charter, parochial (religious-based), and public schools, at taxpayer expense, and without accountability for student achievement and teacher qualification and performance.  And by the way, IDEA is not part of the DeVoss desires for public education in Michigan.  In fact, the DeVoss desire includes a parents' waiver of IDEA requirements for private, charter, and religious-based school education.  Thus, a parent with a child with a disability has the "choice" to either send their child to a non-public school without protection of IDEA, or to send their child to a public school were IDEA funding and compliance has been gutted from public education.  That is the "school choice" that a DeVoss and Trump national education public policy will certainly be if their "Pay for Play" scheme becomes reality, as choice as the fox dressed in sheep clothing.  IT stinks as much as the farm in which the fox and sheep reside!  So plug your nose, or get used to the stench of the "Pay for Play" swamp of Washington, which is about to spread from sea to shining sea across America as nation education public policy under DeVoss and Trump!  

It should be no surprise that Mrs. DeVoss is not without knowledge and totally uninformed about such federal education policy and legislated laws as IDEA, the Individual Disabilities Education Act, which mandates equal opportunity and performance standards for providing children with disabilities appropriate services to enable those students a quality education experience up to age 26.            

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBMI-Talk [mailto:nfbmi-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kane Brolin via NFBMI-Talk
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2017 4:17 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List <NFBMI-Talk at nfbnet.org>; Joe Harcz <JoeHarcz at comcast.net>
Cc: Kane Brolin <kbrolin65 at gmail.com>; Chris Cripe <ChrisCripe65 at gmail.com>
Subject: [nfbmi-talk] "Betsy DeVos apparently ‘confused’ about federal law protecting students with disabilities - The Washington Post

I'm looking for a little experiencial knowledge here, since Ms. DeVos
is a product of Holland, Michigan and a long-time advocate for "school
choice."  I'm all about religious freedom; but how informed is she
about the choices that disabled students are entitled to under
existing law?

Treatment of Ms. DeVos' testimony in "The Washington Post" is
disturbing enough that I think I'm going to dial up the entire archive
of this hearing on C-SPAN and listen to it before phoning my senators'
offices in DC.

Has anyone on this list got experience about how blind students fare
in charter schools or religiously-based parochial schools in Michigan?
 See below.

"Betsy DeVos displayed at best confusion and at worst a lack of
knowledge about a key federal law involving students with disabilities
during her Tuesday confirmation hearing before a Senate panel that
will vote on whether she should become President-elect Donald Trump’s
education secretary.

"Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) asked DeVos about the federal Individuals With
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which requires public schools to
provide children with disabilities a “free appropriate public
education” and governs how states and public agencies provide various
services to millions of students.

"Kaine asked her if she believes that all schools that receive federal
funding — whether public, public charter or private — should be
required to meet the requirements of IDEA.

"She responded: “I think they already are.”

"Kaine: “But I’m asking you a should question. Whether they are or
not, we’ll get into that later.” He then repeated his question.

"DeVos said: “I think that is a matter that is best left to the
states.'" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/17/betsy-devos-confused-about-federal-law-protecting-students-with-disabilities/?utm_term=.31dbc8e0ce18

C-SPAN's archive of this hearing is found at
https://www.c-span.org/video/?421224-1/education-secretary-nominee-betsy-devos-testifies-confirmation-hearing.

-Kane

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