Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Empathy Mining

Home
Progressive Christian
Is Betsy DeVos Ushering in a New Age of Segregation?

Is Betsy DeVos Ushering in a New Age of Segregation?

Last updated on: June 15, 2017 at 3:18 pm by Shane Phipps

Is Betsy DeVos Ushering in a New Age of Segregation? 2017-06-15T15:18:53-04:00 Shane Phipps

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Betsy-DeVos-1-800x430

It’s no secret that President Trump is a big proponent of school choice and vouchers. His selection of Betsy DeVos to head up the U.S. Department of Education was, perhaps, one of his most controversial appointments. Mrs. DeVos has little to no pedigree in education. Her main qualification for the job appears to have been that she donated a boatload of money to the campaigns of many top GOP candidates. That, and she is a bulldog for school choice and vouchers to provide money to families to move students out of their public school and into the schools they choose, including private schools.

Vouchers might sound good to you on the surface. So what’s wrong with providing families an opportunity to send the kids any school they want and giving them money in order to do it?

Several things.

First, families do have school choice already. It’s called moving. If you don’t like the school where you live, move to another school district. Isn’t that the kind of advice the GOP normally offers people who are down on their luck?

This idea that tax dollars should be spent to send kids to schools where they don’t live would normally be a very un-GOP-like idea. So why is it so popular among Republicans?

What if the answer is that Messrs. Trump, Pence, and Mrs. DeVos don’t truly want all kids to have school choice?

This is not an unfounded accusatory question I’m asking.

Mrs. DeVos was testifying before Congress last week during discussions of the proposed 2018 budget, which features a 13.5% cut in education spending, by the way. During the testimony a representative was using the example of a private religious school in Indiana that has very clear language in its admissions policy that they do not accept LGBQT students, or even straight students from LGBQT parents, yet this school is eligible to receive voucher money. The representative asked Mrs. DeVos if she thought a school with such discriminatory discretion should be eligible to receive tax-funded vouchers. With a cool detachment that would have made Pontius Pilate proud, Mrs. DeVos continually stated that she supported the states’ rights to make such decisions for themselves, effectively washing her hands of the responsibility to protect the rights of kids being denied equal opportunities. The Congresswoman was incredulous, as she should have been, and continued to grill Mrs. DeVos to make sure she was clearly implying what she seemed to be implying. Mrs. DeVos steadfastly maintained her position that she did not think the federal government should intervene in cases like that, and that federal voucher money should still go to such schools if the state approved it. You can watch the video clip here.

That is disturbing.

If you aren’t greatly bothered by that, change the scenario. What if a private school refused to admit Catholics? What about Irish? What about blacks or Latinos? All of those groups have faced terrible discrimination in our not so distant history.

Are you really comfortable with your tax money being used to help families send kids to schools that have carte blanche to turn away students for identity-based reasons?

What we are watching unfold here could be tantamount to the beginnings of government sanctioned segregated schools.

This is supposed to be a big reason to have a national Department of Education, to guard against this kind of garbage. Having a federal department to oversee our nation’s education system, in theory, should help assure that every student has an equal chance. Not all federal law has been good for education, not by a long shot, but without it, where would minorities, kids with special learning needs, or physical disabilities be?

What Mrs. DeVos is refusing to stand against is the same kind of discrimination Ruby Bridges and the Arkansas Nine fought so hard to overcome in the days before there was a national Department of Education. We have already seen what can happen when states are allowed to make their own policies on education without federal accountability.

It wasn’t pretty.

And neither is this.

Multiple Perspectives

Previous Post

May 24, 2017

To Catch a Predator (Fan)

Next Post

May 28, 2017 Old Tools, Old Men, and Legacy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 150 word story 2nd Amendment AARP abortion addiction aging alcoholism Anderson Wigwam Andrew Jackson Appalachia Basketball bias bigotry Black Lives Matter Christianity Christmas, Constitution, Bill of Rights Civil War Clinton cloning confirmation bias Conservation Constitution Controversial Creationism Creepy tales David Bowie depression Dogs Education Election Electoral College Empathy Environmental Evolution exvangelical faith Family Family History Fantasy Genealogy Genesis George Washington Ghetto Global Warming Gun Control health care High School Basketball Hillary History Hockey homosexuality Hoosier Hysteria Hoosiers Hunting immigration income inequality Interview ISTEP Jurassic Park Kaepernick Ken Hamm Kids say the Darndest things LGBTQ Love MAGA Manifest Destiny Merit Pay Mike Pence Muhammad Ali Multiple Perspectives Music Music Review Nashville News media NHL No Child Left Behind NRA Paradox Parenting Pence Perspective Politics POTUS Poverty Predators Race Religion religious freedom Sci Fi Science Secret of Life sexual harrassment Short Stories Slavery Small Town Indiana Smashville Social Commentary social media sports Stress technology Terrorism Thomas Jefferson Trauma Trump Turning 50 Uncategorized war Washington DC White Privilege wooly mammoths words in red Writing Writing Process Writing, Writing Process Young Earth

Select a Month June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 August 2021 May 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What city was known as the City of David?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Bethlehem Jerusalem Nazareth Jericho

Support this
Column