Betsy DeVos Confirmation Vote: Wealth, Privilege and Political Calculation Trump Best Interests of Children

MADISON, Wis. — With the unprecedented vote of Mike Pence to break the tie in the U.S. Senate, the manifestly unqualified private school voucher advocate billionaire Betsy DeVos is confirmed as Secretary of Education. DeVos’s American Federation for Children has spent at least $5 million to support Republican candidates in Wisconsin and the DeVos family has donated nearly $500,000 to cheerleader Gov. Scott Walker and state Republicans.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross:

“Make no mistake, Betsy DeVos bought Sen. Ron Johnson’s vote with $49,000 in campaign contributions.

“Unfortunately with the confirmation vote on Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary wealth, privilege and crass political calculation trump the best interests of our children, our schools and our universities today.

“Those who put partisan politics and personal ambition before the best interests of schools and children in supporting DeVos have lost any claim to credibility on public education issues.

“Betsy DeVos is manifestly unqualified to be Education Secretary, lacking of knowledge, expertise and commitment to public education and plagiarizing of written answers submitted to U.S. Senators.

“What she has is a personal fortune she deployed to underwrite propaganda campaigns and fatten the campaign accounts of politicians like Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Ron Johnson and other Republicans in Wisconsin and across the nation.

“What does not end is our resistance to those who would take money from our public schools to give to less accountable private voucher schools or the fight for student loan debt reform and college affordability.”