Dear Senator Toomey,
I am writing this letter to tell you that you should oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos for the Secretary of Education. I have called your office to express this, but I feel that was an insufficient action, so I also will be attending a Tuesdays with Toomey event at the Grand Concourse on January 24.
Betsy DeVos is a dangerous person for the future of American public education and to put her in charge of a system she has repeatedly stated she intends to defund is irresponsible. The Secretary of Education should be our country’s leading advocate for the public school system, the children served by it, and the institutions that compose it.
During her career in the private and non-profit sectors, Ms. DeVos has routinely sought to divert funds from public institutions to charter and religious-based schools. As a direct result of policies pushed through thanks to the Lobbying of Ms. DeVos, Michigan has been forced to accept and pay for failing charter schools. The Detroit charter school system is an unmitigated disaster thanks to a system designed by Ms. DeVos that is devoid of oversight and accountability.
Here in Pennsylvania, we are no strangers to the dangerous lack of oversight of our charter school programs. Just last year, PA Cyber, the state’s largest charter school, was found to be diverting millions of dollars to a management company among other entities. Thanks in large part to the lack of oversight and the unchecked malfeasance of PA Cyber’s founding CEO Nick Trombetta, he made $8 million for his own private interests. However, the true crime here is that he failed to provide a quality education to the children of Pennsylvania that he was tasked to serve.
Pittsburgh is currently home to 14 schools that scored under 50 on the Allegheny County School Performance Profile for the 2015-16 school year. Six of the 20 charter schools also scored under a 50 on the same profile. Currently, our public school system within the City of Pittsburgh is not providing equal access to quality education that is afforded to residents outside of the city. This inequality is a tragedy. It is unsustainable because thousands of young people are being deprived of an education that can improve their personal development, prospects for future employment, and a pathway out of poverty.
I care deeply about public education because it has been a part of my life even before I was born.
My father has been a public school teacher in the Delaware Valley School District for over 30 years. My mother, began her service in public education in 1994 and after starting as a reading specialist to becoming a principal and now serves as the Director of Elementary Education of DVSD. My sister currently serves as a history teacher for Caldwell County Schools in North Carolina. I myself have studied and written about school board elections and education policy extensively.
I understand that insolvency of our public schools is unsustainable and that the education outcomes they produce are far from ideal. However, Betsy DeVos’ proposals of unaccountable charter schools, divestment from our public schools, and a seemingly complete lack of knowledge of the applicability of federal laws over the schools she would oversee can only exacerbate the current problems within our public school system.
Should you require additional information or assistance, my contact information is included below.
Sincerely,
Alexander Schaffer
Alex Schaffer 