Senate confirms Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary

Vice President Mike Pence was the tie-breaker vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as the next Education Secretary.

The Senate was tied 50-50, with two Republicans and all Democrats voting no.

DeVos is known for supporting school choice, which provides children and families alternatives to publicly funded schools.

Dr. Peter Stiepleman, Superintendent of Columbia Public Schools, said via Twitter that he called Senator Roy Blunt and Senator Claire McCaskill and asked them to vote against DeVos.

Neither Columbia Public Schools nor Jefferson City Public Schools will comment on how DeVos as the new Education Secretary might affect local schools.

Todd Fuller, spokesperson for the Missouri State Teachers Association, said DeVos will not make a good Secretary of Education because she has no experience in public education.

Fuller said there is only one ideology of DeVos that he and members of MSTA can agree with –and that is local control of education. He said that he hopes she is true to her word.

Dr. Laurie Wallace, a professor at Mizzou, said that she is neither for nor against DeVos being the Secretary of Education. She said that for the most part, whatever DeVos does about education won’t affect Missouri.

Fuller and Wallace agree that majority of funding for public education comes from state and local entities, not federal dollars.