AFT President Randi Weingarten on DeVos American Federation for Children Speech

WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten’s response to U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ speech at the American Federation for Children conference:

“Far from being transformative, Betsy DeVos is taking a page from her Democratic predecessor Arne Duncan and proposing her own version of the Obama administration’s much-criticized Race to the Top. While Duncan tied federal funds to the promotion of Common Core and testing, DeVos is tying federal funds to her own voucher and privatization projects. She is doing so, however, not by adding money but through a reverse Robin Hood strategy of robbing schools of investments that work for kids, like after-school programs, to pay for her pet privatization and voucher programs. No wonder the conservative Heritage Foundation criticized DeVos’ program as a new federal intervention.”