Betsy DeVos, a Michigan-based philanthropist and President-elect Trump’s pick for education secretary, will sit before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Monday evening to answer questions about her education record.
The conundrum for senators questioning her, however, is that her only record is as a philanthropist. She was not the CEO of a major school system — as Arne Duncan, Obama’s first Education Secretary, was — or an administrator and state education department commissioner, like Duncan’s successor, John King. Right now, the only way to understand her views on major education issues is by looking at the entities she and the DeVos family as a whole give money to.
Her stance on school choice in K-12 education is the clearest. DeVos has been a huge supporter of for-profit charter schools and has pushed against further regulation of these schools. She is also in favor of expanding vouchers for students to attend private schools, and has said that school choice would increase the number of parochial schools.
But beyond that, her approach to running the Department of Education remains a mystery. Below are some of the key unanswered questions regarding Betsy DeVos as she heads into her Senate confirmation hearing.
What will DeVos do to support early childhood education?
DeVos’ record on early childhood education is essentially non-existent, even when one accounts for her donations. Although Hillary Clinton introduced a universal pre-K plan in 2015, Trump simply called for child-care tax credits. These tax credits would only benefit the rich, since many low-income families don’t owe anything on their income taxes, and because the tax credit reward families who spend more on child care.
There was no mention of pre-K in the Republican Party platform.
How will DeVos protect students’ civil rights?
DeVos has yet to say anything about the Education Departments’ Office of Civil Rights and how she would handle enforcement of civil rights laws. The OCR ensures students with disabilities are accommodated and not isolated from the rest of their school, and investigates claims of racially disparate student discipline, among other issues of discrimination. Although a Trump surrogate, Carl Paladino, said the office is unnecessary, the president-elect himself has not yet weighed in.
A national civil rights group, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, has voiced its concerns about DeVos’ qualifications, given her lack of experience as an administrator or educator. Its president, Wade Henderson, said DeVos and her family’s donations had caused the group to question to her commitment to civil rights.
“DeVos has demonstrated no previous commitment to ensuring equal educational opportunity in schools,” said Henderson in a statement.
The DeVos family has donated to groups that oppose LGBTQ rights and promote harmful practices such as conversation therapy, which raises questions about whether she will enforce guidance allowing transgender students to use facilities matching their gender. The Gay Lesbian Student Education Network said it is “deeply concerned” about her nomination.
How will DeVos handle guidance on campus sexual assault?
DeVos donated thousands of dollars to a group that says many campus rape allegations are simply “drunken hookups.” The organization, called FIRE, has sued the Obama administration over the Education Department’s 2011 guidance on how universities should handle sexual assault complaints.
The Department’s guidance encouraged use of the preponderance of the evidence standard, which is based on which party’s evidence has greater weight, in ruling on assault causes. Preponderance of evidence is typically the standard used in civil cases, whereas criminal courts tend to use the more restricting “clear and convincing evidence” baseline to determine guilt. FIRE wrote the following about the 2011 guidance:
“Unfortunately, much of the feminist ‘war on rape’ has conflated sexual assault with muddled, often alcohol-fueled, sexual encounters that involve miscommunication, perhaps bad behavior, but no criminal coercion. As a result, the drunken hookups all too common on today’s campuses can lead to devastating charges and penalties. … Should colleges promote responsible sexual conduct? Of course — but not by irresponsibly misusing charges of rape or trampling the presumption of innocence.”
DeVos hasn’t commented on the issue of campus rape and whether she will rescind the guidance on preponderance of evidence.
How will DeVos monitor for-profit colleges and help students manage their debt?
Although DeVos doesn’t have much of a record on higher education, she and her husband did invest in a venture-capital firm that backed the startup Social Finance Inc., which refinances student loans. Student loan industry stocks rose significantly after the election, which led some senators to question whether a Trump administration would keep the best interests of students and graduates in mind.
The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 required that all student loans would originate with the federal government, so the government stopped giving subsidies to private banks to offer federally insured loans. The plan was to use the savings to expand Pell grants and cap repayment at 10 percent of income above a basic living allowance. But these companies are optimistic the winds will change in their favor, Sen. Warren noted a letter she sent to DeVos last week:
“ … as student loan and for-profit college industry stocks surge in response to the election of Mr. Trump, it is equally urgent that American has a secretary of education who will always administer the student loan program with the best interest of students in mind. That requires a secretary of education with the necessary expertise and experience to be fully committed to — and fully engaged in — helping students afford college and manage their loan burdens.”
For-profit colleges have harmed some of the most vulnerable college students, including veterans, students of color, low-income students, and students with children. The worst actors in the industry often promise students that the education they paid for will yield jobs in their chosen field. And when students are unable to find jobs in their area of study because they receive insufficient preparation, for-profits sometimes misrepresent their career outcomes to prospective future students. This means many for-profit colleges, such as the Heald College, Everest College and WyoTech campuses, which were part of the Corinthian Colleges chain, offered misleading information to prospective students.
Trump’s record on higher education is stained by his now shuttered business, Trump University, an unaccredited program. Multiple lawsuits alleged the business committed fraud against students. Trump settled those lawsuits for $25 million after the election.
How will DeVos handle potential conflicts of interest?
Given DeVos’ status as a billionaire, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the HELP committee, plans to question her on how her investment portfolio would affect her role as secretary. Murray told the New York Times that she wants to know how a candidate with “extremely complicated financial dealings” would resolve any conflicts of interest.
DeVos omitted from her financial disclosures a $125,000 donation to a Michigan committee, Protecting Michigan Taxpayers. The committee has campaigned against a ballot initiative that would have included collective-bargaining rights in the state constitution, the Washington Post reported.
The transition team spokeswoman acknowledged the omission on Friday and said the disclosures would be updated to include it. But the omission did raise questions about whether DeVos is withholding anything else from the Senate committee. Murray has asked DeVos to turn over three years of tax returns to the committee.