LANSING– This week, the Michigan Democratic Party has released The DeVos Diaries, a series on the Trump-DeVos education agenda and its devastating impact on Michigan teachers, students, and public schools. For the final day of the DeVos Diaries, the series will highlight how Betsy DeVos sees COVID-19 as an “opportunity,” and all the ways the Trump-DeVos Department of Education has exploited that opportunity to attack public education.
In an April interview, DeVos labeled COVID-19 an “opportunity” to implement her education agenda as schools suffer funding shortfalls and teachers and students struggle. Here are all the ways she has exploited that opportunity:
- Diverting CARES Act money from low-income public schools to private schools.
- Funding “voucher-like proposals” with critical public school aid.
- Delaying aid to college students and attacking Dreamers.
- Garnishing wages from almost 300,000 student loan borrowers.
“Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos see COVID-19 as an ‘opportunity’ to push their extremist agenda and Michigan’s teachers and students are paying the price,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesman Christian Slater. “Michigan needs a president who will stand up for public education, instead of attacking it at every turn.”