DeVos’ 1st assignment: Mend fences with education foes

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

On her first day on the job, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plunged into her initial assignment: mending fences with her opponents following a bruising confirmation battle. Parents across the country looked for clues as to whether she will fulfill their hopes or reinforce their fears.

Addressing several hundred Education Department staff members, DeVos, a wealthy Republican donor and school choice champion, vowed to work with everyone, including her critics, in ensuring the best education in the nation’s schools.

“I am committed to working with everyone and anyone – from every corner of the country, from every walk of life, from every background and with those who supported my nomination and those who did not – to protect, strengthen and create new world-class education opportunities for America’s students,” DeVos said.

Many remain to be convinced.

Jessica Helton, a mother of three young children from the Cincinnati suburb of Mariemont, said she worries that there will be reduced support for and access to services such as the specialized reading help her daughter gets in kindergarten and the weekly speech therapy provided at a public school for her 4-year-old son.

“My fear is that schools who are no longer forced to provide these services won’t, and either they won’t have the funding to pay for it or they’ll decide to use the funds for other projects or for other needs,” she said.

But others are more optimistic.

Rabbi A.D. Motzen, a school-choice advocate and the Cincinnati-based national director of state relations for the Orthodox Jewish group Agudath Israel of America, said he has known DeVos for a decade and worked with her organizations.

“Whatever the policies that come out of the Department of Education, she’s going to have a fresh perspective, and I guarantee you it will be focused on parents and children, and less about where they attend school and where they live,” he said by phone.