Opinion: DeVos visit a slap in the face to public schools

Last week, the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, visited Leon County. During her visit, she toured several schools; all of which were what some euphemistically refer to as “non-traditional” schools or as the Democrat correctly noted, “a charter school, a voucher school, and a private school.”

DeVos, a paid public employee – paid with tax dollars and traveling on the public’s dime – purposely and with clear intent chose to not visit one of Leon County’s amazing, innovative and high-performing public schools. 

That was a clear slap in the face.

Let us first acknowledge who and what DeVos is. She is an unapologetic advocate of taking tax dollars out of our public schools and diverting them to private, for-profit corporate schools that are neither transparent nor accountable to taxpayers for the dollars they spend. The one – and only – positive thing I can say about DeVos, is she is open and honest about her support of privatizing our nation’s public school system. So, we know full well who she is and what she stands for.

That is why it was wrong for the editorial board of the Democrat to criticize Leon County Superintendent of Schools Rocky Hanna for choosing to not attend the charade of a public town hall meeting.

What good would it have done?

He would have gotten his two minutes at the mic and it would have been two minutes of conversation falling on ears that are more than “tone deaf” as the Democrat implied; she and her staff would have all but scoffed at his presence. Hanna took the better course. He chose not to engage in the falsity of a tour designed only to mock public schools and highlight DeVos’ privatization-at-all-costs agenda.

Good for him.

My dear friend State Sen. Bill Montford took a different tack. Montford felt he could be more effective on the inside looking out than on the outside looking in. And it’s hard to argue against his position.

The truth is, both men were correct. Hanna was correct in sending a crystal clear and loud message of defiance and of defense in the school district he serves – a district in which more than 90 percent of students attend a public school. Montford navigated a course of inclusion and, true to his character, chose to believe that DeVos could perhaps be persuaded to at least acknowledge, if not somehow support, our public schools.

But through it all, it was DeVos who should be admonished. It was DeVos who should be reminded that she is the secretary of education for our nation’s public schools, not the unregulated private schools. Even with her so-called reforms, only about one in 20 children will attend a for-profit or private school, and if past is prologue (and I believe it is) many of them will fail. And in failing will turn to our public institutions to clean up their messes.

Last week, we saw courage in two forms from two local leaders – both who are devoutly committed to stronger public schools. Hats off to both Hanna and Montford for their efforts. But shame on our nation’s education secretary for thumbing her nose at Leon County’s public schools, and all who work so hard to support them.

Joanne McCall is the president of the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest association of professional employees, with more than 140,000 members.