DeLauro Calls on Senate to Reject DeVos as Secretary of Education

WASHINGTON, DC (January 10, 2017) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today joined House Democrats and education leaders in calling on the U.S. Senate to reject Betsy DeVos, President-elect Trump's nominee for Secretary of the Department of Education. The press conference came on the same day that DeLauro joined U.S. Representatives Mark Pocan (WI-02) and Mark Takano (CA-41) in launching the Public Education Caucus to bring attention to the issues facing students and teachers in public education.

Here are the remarks, as delivered:

Good morning. I'm Rosa DeLauro, and I represent the Third District of Connecticut, and I couldn't be more proud to stand here this morning and to be a part of this Public Education Caucus. You heard the strength of feelings, both demonstrated by my colleagues Mark Pocan and Mark Takano, and the fire and the passion from the depth of their souls from Randi Weingarten and from Lily.

And why are you going to hear that passion from the rest of our colleagues here? Why? It is because we are believers. We believe in public education. We believe that it is the great equalizer in this nation. That it says I don't care about your gender, I don't care about your socio-economic status, your religion, your political party. All we care about is your God-given talent. And that is what public education is about, to allow our children to be able to have the opportunity to demonstrate their God-given talent, and to be able to succeed in an environment that is nurturing, that is caring, and that is invigorating, and stimulates their mind.

That's why we are here today. That's why we will fight. That's why we will fight the Trump Administration and this new Congress. We are here to protect our public schools, to defend our students, and yes, to defend our teachers, who in the past have been made scapegoats. That is not going to happen under our watch.

The nomination of anti-public school billionaire Betsy DeVos—what does it signal? The President-elect intends to hollow out public education; he intends to privatize public education—90 percent of our kids are in public schools in this nation.

We should not create a private system that excludes some children and benefits others. You know, this is not morally right, and we have moral responsibility in serving in this body. You know what Betsy DeVos thinks of education? She thinks of it not as a public good, but as an industry. And I am going to quote her: "We must open up the education industry—let's not kid ourselves that it isn't an industry…" This is a woman who is going to lead the nation's education agenda.

By the way, just as an aside, she led a PAC that owes the State of Ohio about $5.3 million for laundering campaign cash—a fine due over a decade. Irresponsibility and disregard of the law is very concerning no matter where it happens.

It's now our job to increase our commitment to America's public schools, not diminish it. I serve as the Ranking Member of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. I watch education funding every single day. And according to the National Center for Education Statistics, our nation's classrooms are undergoing a demographic shift; they're becoming increasingly poor and minority over time. Since 2015, for the first time in 50 years, more than half of public school students live near or below the poverty line. American education spending has fell by about $600 per student between 2009 and 2014.

Children in poverty are more likely to require special education services for a number of reasons, including encounters with toxins like lead and exposure to childhood trauma. On average, students receiving special education services require twice as much funding as other students, yet the average federal investment per special needs student is only 16 percent of total costs and declining. This has left states to absorb the difference, to the tune of over $17 billion last year. Where will she be on funding special education? Where will she be on funding Tiger I, the life blood of our public education system?

You know, I want to mention this point just because I know there are so many of my colleagues who want to get up here and speak. You know the first day of this session, what did the Republican majority do? They said let's take mandatory funding and move it to discretionary funding, so that we are not mandated. What does it mean? Let's bring it down to basics. That would have a disastrous impact on Pell, which derived one sixth of its funding from mandatory money last year. Pell would be competing against other education priorities in a finite pool of resources. Federal student loans would be subject to cuts if moved from mandatory to discretionary. TEACH grants, which support students who agree to teach for four years in a low income K-12 school, worth up to $4,000 a year—we provide mandatory funding for this effort. That's in education. I didn't even get the chance to talk about what they will do with SNAP, with food stamps. We do not have the funding today on the discretionary side of the budget to fund the programs that we have to fund. And let me just tell you, we just heard from the President-elect that this wall, which Mexico was going to pay for, is now going to be the responsibility of our taxpayers. That's the direction they will go in, rather than providing the needed resources for our students.

What is our job? Nelson Mandela said it the best, "Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world." We want our kids to be able to change the world. That's the God-given right. That's where their talent should take them, so we have to make sure that they have the tools they need—and we have to protect them from attacks that they are about to be submitted to. The Senate should say ‘no' to Betsy DeVos. Thank you.