Trump education pick believes public schools have ‘displaced’ the church

Posted by | December 3, 2016 07:52 | Filed under: News Behaving Badly Politics Religion

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Betsy DeVos apparently believes you “advance God’s kingdom” by taking resources away from public schools.

The billionaire philanthropist whom Donald Trump has tapped to lead the Education Department once compared her work in education reform to a biblical battleground where she wants to “advance God’s Kingdom.”

Trump’s pick, Betsy DeVos, a national leader of the school choice movement, has pursued that work in large part by spending millions to promote the use of taxpayer dollars on private and religious schools.

Her comments came during a 2001 meeting of “The Gathering,” an annual conference of some of the country’s wealthiest Christians. DeVos and her husband, Dick, were interviewed a year after voters rejected a Michigan ballot initiative to change the state’s constitution to allow public money to be spent on private and religious schools, which the DeVoses had backed.

In the interview, an audio recording, which was obtained by POLITICO, the couple is candid about how their Christian faith drives their efforts to reform American education.

School choice, they say, leads to “greater Kingdom gain.” The two also lament that public schools have “displaced” the Church as the center of communities, and they cite school choice as a way to reverse that troubling trend.

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Copyright 2016 Liberaland
By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.

24 responses to Trump education pick believes public schools have ‘displaced’ the church

  1. Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 08:56

    We would be better off with Betty Bowers. At least she would give us laughs. This one is frightening with how little she knows about the Constitution. Just like her boss to be.

  2. William December 3rd, 2016 at 09:16

    Let’s hear her out. She paid good money to bribe her way into that job. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f81d78a9a377e71c67ba86fd575da8b78996992079b5655a60e5ca12c1abc05a.jpg

    • StoneyCurtisll December 3rd, 2016 at 18:16

      Draining the swamp, and filling it with alligators…
      Gawd help us all…

      • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 18:25

        It’s worse than gators. At least they belong in a swamp. It’s mutants from the center of the earth.

        • StoneyCurtisll December 3rd, 2016 at 18:42

          You got that right…

    • Lyndia December 3rd, 2016 at 20:19

      She sounds something like Forest Claypool, CEO, of Chicago Public Schools. Not everything, but some things.

  3. mea_mark December 3rd, 2016 at 09:29

    I get the feeling this is who Pence wants more than anything else. This sure feels like the doing of the dominionist. It is an attempt to try and turn America into a theocracy.

    • Buford2k11 December 3rd, 2016 at 11:01

      all of the transition appointments are directly from Hell…Pence has those types of connections…We are seeing “president/vice president Pence”…these are his choices….we will be living in Hell come January…

    • elaine smith December 4th, 2016 at 00:03

      mea_mark: Bingo! Research Sunday Law Day of Rest legislation. The so-called “Christian” evangelicals want to establish a “heavenly kingdom” on this earth, and force everyone to conform to their idea of what it is to be “moral/goodl”. I kid YOU not! Just re-read what the line in the above article where nominee, Betsy DeVos, is quoted as wanting to use “education reform,,,to advance God’s kingdom.” You are correct when you single out Pence as the main force in this movement. He is the one the “Christian” evangelicals really want as their main man. Trump is just their useful idiot to gain their “earthly heavenly kingdom”. That doesn’t sound good to me because you cannot force ANYONE to be “moral/good” without taking away some of their civil rights. She and her ilk are religious zealots the most dangerous kinds of fascists because they think they are RIGHTEOUSLY doing God’s work when in reality, they are satan’s minions. This is truly much more than a “political” battle, it is mainly “spiritual warfare” IF you think this is ridiculous, did you think two years ago that Don the Con Trump would actually be sworn in as POTUS? We are living in some interesting times.

  4. labman57 December 3rd, 2016 at 11:16

    Most Christian conservatives such as DeVos would love to see the public education system be financially gutted and instead have the private education system — which typically employs non-unionized teachers — be government-subsidized. In addition to viewing labor unions as unAmerican, right wing politicos often regard any form of public education (k-12 or college) as part of a subversive left-wing plot to corrupt and brainwash our youth.

    Unlike the public school system, private schools — which are often managed by self-serving corporate profiteers — would not be restricted from propagating right wing revisionist history in their social studies classes, nor proselytizing religious ideology (including advancing their homophobic agenda) and promoting corporate-funded anti-environmental propaganda in the science classroom.

    Vouchers are intended to allow students from highly motivated families attend costly private schools which they would otherwise not be able to attend. The funding for the vouchers comes from the state or federal government, i.e., the government is essentially subsidizing the private school industry. Since private schools can select student admittance based on the family’s financial status and academic ability, this would create a further divide between the “haves” and “have nots” in our society.

    Since vouchers only account for a portion of the cost of tuition at a private school, families in the lower third of the economic range would still be excluded from attending, resulting in the public school system being further saturated with the poorest students, the lowest achieving students (including ELD and learning disabled), and those that are least motivated to attain academic success.

    Furthermore, comparing performance data between public and private schools is not scientifically valid — the latter can select students for admission based on entrance qualifications, and they can remove students from their programs based on poor conduct or academic performance. Therefore, the performance data becomes extremely skewed compared with public schools which legally must accept anyone who resides within its residency boundaries.

    • Larry Schmitt December 3rd, 2016 at 18:40

      They would also substitute creationism for evolution.

    • bpollen December 3rd, 2016 at 21:17

      If you want to teach children about your religion and that religion’s belief system, more power to you. Just keep it the flock out of public schools. Bullshit should not BE the curriculum.

      People act like being a teacher is like working for McDonalds. As if having a bucket of paint turns you into an artist. It’s not an easy job, and those who are really good at it are way too rare (and many that ARE leave teaching for financial reasons.)

    • Dwendt44 December 4th, 2016 at 00:34

      The money for the vouchers comes directly out of the education budgets of the states. Private schools often use unqualified teachers, run on an computer based system (more students-less teachers), lack most any oversight, rarely are evaluated and in most cases, achieve no better academically than the public system.
      But the little darlings are exposed to less of the riff raff of society.

      • The Original Just Me December 4th, 2016 at 10:41

        More Vouchers for Private Schools means less money for Public schools. Out come; More Tax Over ride levies and MORE TAXES Upon the People so the Ultra Rich can Live the Life of T. Rump.

  5. Lane Ranger December 3rd, 2016 at 19:30

    Worst pick of the Trump picks ! A true destructive force in America!

    • Lyndia December 3rd, 2016 at 20:20

      Well, many teachers voted for trump.

      • bpollen December 3rd, 2016 at 21:11

        Teachers can be stupid too. 😎

      • whatthe46 December 4th, 2016 at 00:55

        well for one, tRump didn’t tell them that one of his biggest donors that was against public school education and thinks that teachers are overpaid. if they had even know who she was w/o the what she was about, and decided not to vote for him, then it would have because of the loss of earning a fair wage, not because he’s a racist. hate is strong in some.

        • The Original Just Me December 4th, 2016 at 10:38

          No matter the Facts, some Life Forms can NOT be taught the Truth.

  6. Gina Bousquet December 3rd, 2016 at 19:55

    Reactionary forces in full mode!!

  7. bpollen December 3rd, 2016 at 21:08

    Public schools have replaced the Church as the center of my community?

    Well, GOOD!

    I’d rather put more emphasis on FACT, and critical thinking, than conformity and fairy tales.

  8. The Original Just Me December 4th, 2016 at 10:36

    I Totally agree with This thing. The Fantasy of Made Up Religion HAS been replaced by the FACT Based Science Taught in Public Schools.

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