Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) issued the following statement announcing her opposition to Betsy DeVos’s nomination to be the next Secretary of Education:
“Betsy DeVos has no background in public education. In fact, her only experience for this job is her decades of fighting to divert money away from public education to support charter schools and vouchers for private, religious schools – an ideological cause that has been disastrous for her home state and is diametrically opposed to the Department of Education’s mission of ensuring equal access to a great education. Under questioning, Betsy DeVos appeared to be wildly out of her depth on major policy areas that would be under her jurisdiction if she were confirmed. Her responses and views on issues like measuring student progress, enforcing civil rights and anti-LGBT discrimination laws, serving children with disabilities, and protecting students from sexual assault and gun violence were not reassuring. Nevada students, parents and teachers deserve an Education Secretary who will fight for the success of our public schools, not one whose life’s mission has been to undermine the promise of a high quality education for every child, no matter their zip code. While Republicans are hoping to ram through her confirmation with as little public scrutiny as possible, yesterday’s hearing made abundantly clear to me that Betsy DeVos is not equipped to lead the Department of Education.”