The new president gets to remake the whole cabinet, subject to Senate confirmation. As for the states and education, the main thing the states need from the federal government is money, which typically comes with some strings attached. Whether she and Trump intend to try to overhaul the public school system or just keep going at status quo remains to be seen, and a lot depends on Congress. (I’ll be learning a lot about the dynamics myself, as we follow the developments in the coming days.)
My own sense of the public schools is that one big problem right along has been inequality of resources, again coming down to money. Theoretically, education is supposed to be the great equalizer, which should theoretically mean that children born into poverty should get the same opportunities as children born into wealth, but we all know that isn’t what really happens, and the big thing with Betsy DeVos is, there’s no sign that her priorities are in any way consistent with moving toward any such ideal. And it is a problem that has been bad enough right along no matter who was president or secretary of education.
That raises a good question that I’d like to ask everybody now. If you’ve recently come through the public school system, or have children in the school system now, or have any other vantage point for assessing what’s going on at the local level, what are your observations?
