Trump’s secretary of privatizing education Betsy DeVos was taking questions from congressmen and women as she is trying to defend the Trump budget request to divert hundreds of millions of dollars away from public schools to put towards vouchers and what billionaires like to call “school choice.” Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark can see through DeVos’ faux Christianity to her cold, gold core. She decided to hit DeVos once again in the empty space where a soul may have once been.
Clark: I want to go back to Indiana. Bloomington in particular, and look at the Lighthouse Christian Academy. The Lighthouse Christian Academy currently receives over $665,000 in state vouchers for students to attend their school. They are also clear in their handbook and guidance that if you are from a family where there is “homosexual or bisexual activity,” their word not mine, or practicing alternate gender identity, you may be denied admission. If this school, which obviously is approved to discriminate against lgbt students in Indiana, if Indiana applies for this federal funding, will you stand up that this school be open to all students?
Devos: Thank you, congresswoman, for your question with regard broadly to school choice —
Clark: — It is actually kind of narrow.
Devos: I would like to refer back to your question about the comment —
Clark: — I'm sure you would. I want to ask particularly, is there a line for you on state flexibility? You are the backstop for students and their right to access quality education. Would you in this case say, we are going to overrule, and you cannot discriminate on sexual orientation, race, special needs, in our voucher programs? Will that be a guarantee for our students?
Devos: For states that have programs that allow parents to make choices, they set up the rules around that.
Clark: So that is a no. Do you see any circumstance where the federal department of education under your leadership would say that a school was not qualify? What if they said, we are not accepting African-American students, but that was ok with the state? Do you see any situation where you would step in?
Devos: I think the office of civil rights and our title IX protections are broadly applicable across the board. When it comes to parents making choices --
Clark: This isn't about parents making choices. This is about use of federal dollars. Would you say to Indiana, that school cannot discriminate against lgbt students if you want to receive federal dollars, or would you say the state has flexibility in this situation? Yes or no?
Devos: Continue to have flexibility -—
Clark: — So if I understand your testimony, there is no situation of discrimination or exclusion, that if a state approved it for its voucher program, that you would step in and say, that is not how we are going to use federal dollars? There's no situation, if the state approved it, that you would put the state flexibility over our students, is that your testimony?
Devos: I think a hypothetical —
When you hear Republicans say “this is hypothetical,” it’s the intellectual, moral, and rhetorical equivalent of saying “I’m not a scientist.” And Clark isn’t about to let DeVos bullshit her way through this book report.
Clark: — It is not a hypothetical. This is a real school.
[Cole: The gentlelady's time has expired but I want to allow the secretary to answer.]
Devos: I go back to, the bottom line is we believe parents are the best equipped to make choices for their children's schooling and education decisions, and too many children today are trapped in schools that don't work for them. We have to do something different. We have to do something different than continuing a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach. That is the focus. States and local communities are best equipped to make these decisions on behalf of —
Clark: — I am shocked that you cannot come up with one example of discrimination that you would stand up for students.
Betsy DeVos is a perfect representation of Trump and everything he stands for. A person in a dangerous position of power because of family wealth, with a suspect level of intelligence, who shouldn’t be in charge of a pet let alone anything else.
The fireworks begin after the one minute mark.
