DEFENDING STUDENTS AND PUBLIC EDUCATION AND REJECTING THE NOMINATION OF BETSY DEVOS FOR SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

WHEREAS, the American Federation of Teachers, its members and its leaders have worked for more than a century to help all children, their families and working people secure the things they need to have a chance at achieving the American dream; and

WHEREAS, the AFT is committed to protecting and expanding the American pathway to success and security, including a fair and vibrant economy that offers good jobs and a ladder of opportunity to all; a public education system that nurtures children in a safe learning environment and is adequately supported, not defunded or privatized; a system of public higher education that is affordable and inclusive and promotes free inquiry, not ideological tests; democratic values rooted in pluralism and equality, with a free press, an independent judiciary and a thriving labor movement; a healthcare system that provides all Americans with access to affordable, high-quality care; and dignity and respect for every person, with freedom from discrimination, bigotry and bullying; and

WHEREAS, the AFT and all Americans believe in the unique promise that our public schools make to every child—rich, poor, native- and foreign-born, and of all abilities—that our public school system will welcome and teach all children seeking an education; and

WHEREAS, the AFT and all Americans believe in the unique promises that our higher education institutions make to students, to science and other learned disciplines, and to the larger world to embody the universe in a city, expanding the frontiers of knowledge and of humanity; and

WHEREAS, President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Betsy DeVos to be secretary of education poses an existential threat to the American system of public education, including higher education, and makes it clear that his administration’s education policy will be about privatizing, defunding and destroying public education in America, from early childhood education through college; and

WHEREAS, DeVos and her track record are antithetical to public education; she has no meaningful connection with public schools, having sent her children to exclusive private schools and lacking experience in the classroom, has close ties with and has prioritized funding anti-LGBT groups, and has described her crusade for vouchers as “advancing God’s kingdom”; and

WHEREAS, DeVos’ record demonstrates that, if confirmed, she poses a threat to students’ access to affordable, quality higher education because she would turn back the clock on curbing the predatory practices of for-profit colleges; and

WHEREAS, DeVos and her family for decades have wielded their billions in wealth to undermine public education, while promoting private, for-profit schooling with little or no regulation, transparency, accountability or respect for civil rights or the Constitution’s separation of church and state—an approach that has done little or nothing to improve the education of children in her home state of Michigan, while draining resources from the schools that most students attend:

RESOLVED, that the American Federation of Teachers, its state and local affiliates, and its members oppose the nomination of Betsy DeVos to become secretary of education because of her unquestioned record as an anti-public-education activist and her long history in the public arena supporting policies that isolate, outsource and abandon the American vision for public education at every level. Her confirmation would exact a terrible and unconscionable cost from America’s public schools and institutions of higher education, and from the students, families and communities that rely on them; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT and our members will educate and mobilize everyone in our communities who shares our values and support for public education, and will work to defeat the DeVos nomination because of the danger her policies and agenda pose to public education and our students.