On the recordFebruary 6, 2017
I will start by thanking my colleague, the Senator from Connecticut, for his leadership on public education issues and the fight against gun violence. He has been a voice calling for commonsense measures to address gun violence and to make our schools more safe, and I thank him for all he has done in that regard. Yesterday I came to this floor to discuss the risk that Betsy DeVos would pose to our public education system for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. With her zealous focus on vouchers for private schools, she has ignored accountability and the unique needs of communities in Maryland and throughout the Nation. Education is a public trust, and we should not contract it out to the highest bidders in various voucher schemes. In addition to overseeing support for K-12 education, the Secretary of Education is also responsible for Federal efforts in the area of higher education. So this morning, I would like to talk a little bit about higher education. We know very little about the position the new President will take in the area of higher education. However, what we do know about his track record is very troubling. Based on the testimony of Ms. DeVos and her responses to questions for the Record, we can have little confidence that she will be a check on President Trump's worst instincts. Here is what we know: We know that President Trump's main foray into continuing education was the now-extinct Trump University.…
