Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s announcement on Monday that she will oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education is the correct choice to help ensure the future of public education in North Dakota.
Heitkamp, D-N.D., cited several reasons for her decision. One was the wide-ranging opposition from North Dakotans. The Senator claimed that of the nearly 1,400 constituents who responded to her request for feedback on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, 95 percent opposed DeVos, 3 percent were in favor of her and 2 percent were neutral. That is a clear margin. The complaints are easy to understand.
One Williams County resident wrote: “She has zero experience in public education, as a teacher or administrator, nor has she overseen massive public department budgets which could threaten funding for ND schools and the education and the futures of our North Dakota students.”
In the statement announcing her decision, Heitkamp criticized DeVos for a lack of knowledge about education policy in general and about rural schools in particular.
Let us be clear: Being an expert on the minutiae of education policy or having experience as a teacher is by no means a requirement to become Secretary of Education. But DeVos’ confirmation hearing betrayed a stunning lack of preparation about some of the most basic facets of education in the United States.
Given her long-standing support for charter schools, it’s hard to see what benefit DeVos could offer our state as Secretary of Education.
Public education nationwide is in desperate need of reform, and the possibility of having schools compete for students could certainly inject a spirit of innovation. However, in North Dakota, school choice is not the most likely solution to the very real problems public education is facing.
In a state with only a few dozen private schools, public education is essential to our future prosperity. The main solution that DeVos has proposed over her public career is moving toward private and charter schools. That may well work in more populated areas, but as Heitkamp notes, about one-third of schools in the United States are rural schools. They face different challenges and require different solutions. DeVos has shown little interest in finding those solutions, and her poor performance during her confirmation hearing doesn’t inspire confidence in that changing.
Senators have a responsibility to ensure that Cabinet picks are well-qualified and will support their constituents’ needs. By listening to North Dakotans and following their lead, Heitkamp is making the right decision.