PORTAGE, Mich. — Local residents and educators today denounced Bronwyn Haltom, Republican candidate for state Representative, for accepting the endorsement of an extreme anti-public education group and for embracing the same failed school policies promoted by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. These policies would strip funding away from public school students and families in Kalamazoo County with little to no accountability.
During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Haltom earned the endorsement from the controversial Great Lakes Education Project – a DeVos-funded organization that promotes anti-public education policies in the Michigan Legislature.
“Betsy DeVos apparently isn’t satisfied with advancing her disastrous, ill-conceived anti-public education agenda at the national level,” said Margy Belchak, chair of the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party. “DeVos and her Michigan-based front group continues to advocate for the total dismantling of our state’s public school system. Donald Trump, Betsy DeVos and Bronwyn Haltom want to hand over scarce taxpayer resources to private for-profit corporations.”
Haltom is seeking a state House seat representing Portage and Oshtemo, Prairie Ronde, and Schoolcraft and Texas townships.
“It’s sad and concerning that Bronwyn Haltom would accept support from a group whose mission is to undermine the public education system as we know it and turn it into a for-profit venture run by corporations,” said Vicki Hessen, a teacher in Portage Public Schools. “Students and parents in Portage and surrounding communities deserve a State Representative who stands with our teachers and local public schools, not with wealthy billionaires like Betsy Devos who want to privatize schools and turn them into profit machines. Public school employees across Michigan are struggling to do their jobs amid the COVID-19 pandemic and we need elected officials who will listen to frontline educators not billionaires when making policy decisions that affect our kids.”
Haltom is a former staffer to President Donald Trump who is now masquerading as moderate while accepting support from a group that aims to undermine and destroy Michigan’s public education system.
