NEA President: DeVos & Conway Unqualified “To Talk About How to Best Help Students Succeed”

WASHINGTON - National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García released the following statement responding to Betsy DeVos and Kellyanne Conway’s efforts to promote the Trump Administration’s plan to cut billions of dollars from public schools to fund private and religious schools at AEI today:

“Betsy DeVos and Kellyanne Conway are probably the two least qualified people in America to talk about how to best help students succeed.

“Today, by once again pushing the Trump Administration’s plans to cut $5 billion from public schools to fund private and religious schools through failed voucher schemes, DeVos and Conway proved how completely out of touch they are with what students need.

“Parents and students trust the educators who know the names of the students in their classrooms rather than the politicians who have never stepped foot in a public school.

“If we’re serious about every child’s future, let’s get serious and ask educators what they need to provide every student with the opportunity to succeed. They’ll tell you we should not be starving resources from the public schools that 90 percent of America’s students attend. Instead, we need to properly resource our neighborhood public schools so that students have inviting classrooms, a well-rounded curriculum, updated textbooks, class sizes that are small enough for one-on-one attention, and support services such as health care, nutrition, and after-school programs for students who need them.

“That is why parents, students and educators from across the nation have joined together to form the #RedforEd movement to fight for stronger public schools. Anyone, including Betsy DeVos and Kellyanne Conway, claiming otherwise is dealing in ‘alternative facts’ and outright lies.”