WASHINGTON — Even before voting to confirm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman got scorched by constituents. They criticized his likely “yes” vote on Facebook and Twitter. They wrote emails to complain. They tried to call his office but the lines were jammed.
The voices of opposition far outnumbered those of support.
So why’d he do it? And did he hear the opponents?
In a news conference call Tuesday, Portman, an Ohio Republican, said he heard them. But he asked his own questions and was satisfied with DeVos’s answers, he said, including her commitment to public schools while allowing them to make many of their own decisions.
Betsy DeVos squeaks through
Portman also acknowledged that he gave President Donald Trump deference in choosing his cabinet — the same kind he says he gave to President Barack Obama when Obama appointed Loretta Lynch as attorney general and Mel Watt as a housing finance director.
The critics’ voices:
“Most of what I heard from constituents was negative on her, but I did my own research, and looked into the questions that were being raised about her,” Portman said of DeVos. “And one of the things that’s interesting about her is she’s an adamant proponent of local control.”
Portman said he heard concerns in letters and calls, at a Sunday church service, at the grocery story and in a coffee with constituents. “But I looked into her actual policy positions, including local control. And she does not want to impose her views on my school district.
“I think a lot of people in these school districts are concerned about this, and so they should feel some sense of comfort that this is not her intention. She made that very clear in her hearing, and that’s her history.”
Taking her word for it after the flub:
Secondly, Portman said, DeVos, the daughter of a public school teacher, said she is committed to public education. “I take her at her word on that. That’s what she said at her hearing, that’s what she said in response to questions.
DeVos also said she would support the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and its funding, Portman said.
In a confirmation hearing — before her nomination was put to the Senate vote and passed without a single vote to spare — DeVos ran into problems on this. She was asked whether any school that takes public money, including private schools, should have the same legal requirements under the federal disabilities education law. DeVos answered that “it’s a matter that’s best left to the states.”
This upset parents and teachers, not only because federal law requires a free, appropriate education for every child. Some parents struggle with their schools over what is appropriate — and over whether the school should pay for it. To say it’s a local matter could be like saying the federal government should keep out, even if there is a law.
DeVos later said she “may have confused” the law and said she would try to get more federal money to address the needs of children with disabilities, although the way it is funneled to students could change.
This is “a big deal to a lot of people back home, and a lot of people in the disabilities community had called in concerned,” Portman acknowledged. “She took the proper position on that, in my view, which is to support it and to support more federal funding for it, which has been the big issue.”
She also was on record strongly supporting career and technical education, he said.
Issue by issue:
“So you just go issue by issue, and I’m not saying there wasn’t some intensity on the other side of that issue, opposed to her,” Portman said. “But I took my time, I did not not make a decision right away, which is one reason that I got a lot of input.
“But ultimately it was just clear to me that some of the concerns that were raised as to her approach were not what was on the record as to what she said and how she answered the questions.”
The charter school issue:
DeVos, a Michigan billionaire, is a major advocate and benefactor of charter schools, which take taxpayer money while providing alternatives to traditional schools. She and other supporters say they provide communities with more choice. It’s a theme shared by President Donald Trump, who today said that “too many of our children don’t have the opportunity to get that education that we all talk about.
“Millions of poor disadvantaged students are trapped in failing schools,” Trump said while talking with parents and educators. “That’s why I want every single disadvantaged child in America, no matter what their background or where they live, to have a choice about where they go to school. It’s worked out so well in some communities where it’s been properly run and property done.”
Critics say charter schools cherry-pick students while draining traditional public schools of resources.
Portman said he believes DeVos when she says she’ll support public education, saying, “Well, her first trip (as education secretary) was to a public school. And my hope is she will support public schools strongly. And also support public charters, which are doing incredibly well in a number of instances in Ohio.”
DeVos “said she is going to be a strong supporter and advocate for public schools, and that’s what she should be,” Portman said.
The problem charters:
What about the abysmal record of some charters in Ohio?
“There are some private charters that have not been properly regulated in my view and have not ended up performing as they should for students,” Portman said. “Of course, some are working very well, including in Cleveland, by the way. There are some good examples. Some of the Breakthrough Schools, for example.
“But yeah, there are some problems with private charters in Ohio, no question about it. And when they’re not serving the students, they should face the consequences.
Ohio has had good — and very bad — charter schools
“But my point was the broader point that she is not going to impose her views on my school district. And I think that’s something that got confused a little bit in the debate over her nomination.”
Deference to the president:
“I do give a president more deference than perhaps some of my colleagues do to pick his or her own team,” Portman said. “And I said this when I voted for Mel Watt,” who led the Federal Housing Finance Agency under Obama. “I was one of only two Republicans to support him. I said this when I voted for Loretta Lynch” for attorney general. “I didn’t say I agreed with her, because I didn’t agree with her on a number of issues.
“But as a Republican said to me when I was still considering how I was going to vote, ‘Rob, you voted for Loretta Lynch and you’re not going to vote for Betsy DeVos, who you actually agree with on most of these issues?’ That’s kind of an interesting point.
“My point it that I do think the Senate confirmation process is important. I think you should support qualified people. But I also think that, as i said earlier, elections matter. When somebody gets elected, unless there is a disqualifying factor, I think they ought to be able to put their team in place and get moving. She is strongly in support of public schools. She is someone who understands the importance of public schools, as a public school teacher’s daughter. I think she’ll end up surprising some of the people who opposed her, both because she doesn’t have the authority to do what they think she’d do.” A law last year, Every Child Succeeds, did away with Common Core and said the federal government cannot do some of the things that people said she would do.
“And because she believes personally in local control. In other words, letting the school district have more control over what the curriculum is and how they operate. So I think she’ll end up surprising some people who opposed her.”
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