Monday, March 26, 2018

In Defense of Betsy Devos

Other than maybe the highly voluble William Bennett, Ronald Reagan's second education chief, it is difficult to think of a U.S. Secretary of Education who has garnered as much attention as Betsy DeVos.

Again, if her position is that Washington should not be involved in education she should state that with conviction, citation of the Constitution, and immediate reference to evidence of federal failure.

Even believers in a strong federal role in education will admit that Washington only supplies around 10 percent of total K-12 funding.

For people who think that Washington should have appreciable control over education, it is, of course, easy to understand their worry about an education secretary who doesn't seem to have total command over all the issues.

If government is to run education, you'd better have a brilliant person running government.

Why did Congress reject federal education management? Not just because it did not appear to work, but because the American people rejected it.

They were exhausted by Washington's masters of the universe - or of the classroom - telling them what education was all about, whether their schools were any good, and imposing policies under the constant threat of withholding money taxpayers had no choice but to send to D.C. In a way, Mrs. DeVos represents what the public seems to want, and the Constitution, at a minimum, demands: a humble, hands-off Washington.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/defense-betsy-devos 

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