Take the Pledge to Fire Betsy DeVos

He introduced the Reversing the Youth Tobacco Epidemic Act of 2019 (H.R. 2339) to address the recent rise in tobacco use among students. The bill passed the House by a vote of 213-195.

He introduced the Emmett Till Antilynching Act (H.R. 35)to designate lynching as a hate crime under federal law and correct a historic wrong.  The bill passed the House by a vote of 410-4.

They introduced the bipartisan, bicameral Public Schools Week resolution in their respective chambers.

He introduced the Homework Gap Trust Fund Act of 2020 to help communities purchase wireless devices and ensure all students have access to the internet.

She objected to the Trump/DeVos privatization agenda, noting that vouchers have a negative, statistically significant impact on educational achievement—i.e., more vouchers equals lower achievement.

She raised concerns about the Trump/DeVos proposal to cut dozens of programs, including full-service community schools in her district.

She objected to the Trump/DeVos plan to stop breaking down preschool enrollment data by race and ethnicity, noting that black students comprise 20 percent of the preschool population and 50 percent of suspensions.

He noted the poor performance of many charter schools and asked Betsy DeVos what percentage are failing; she said she didn’t know.

She discussed the impact of the Trump/DeVos block grant proposal on teacher shortages—vacancies in her district increased from 195 vacancies last year to 235 this year.

She observed that the proposed Trump/DeVos voucher program does not include a nondiscrimination requirement.