Betsy DeVos says she hopes Americans elect a president in 2024 who will shut down the education department and strip powerful teachers’ unions of control to stand up for freedom and choice in American education.
“I don’t think the Federal Ministry of Education should exist,” the former education secretary told DailyMail.com during an exclusive interview.
“I am hopeful that we will elect a president who is also determined to drastically scale back or eventually close the Department of Education.”
GOP 2024 presidential candidates, including former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott, have all vowed to close the Department of Education if elected president.
“I want a president who stands up for educational freedom,” DeVos told DailyMail.com
She said the department is unfortunately “very unionized and union-driven,” which she calls “despicable.”
DeVos said a future president will have to “slap a lot of elbows” within the department because of the “rooted interests” of the major unions desperate to “hold on to their power base.”
“I want a president who stands up for freedom of education. And I think there’s every case for someone not just going to talk about it, but actually doing it or maybe already has,” DeVos told DailyMail.com.
“I think this is the most important problem facing our country, because without a prepared, rising generation, we will not have the kind of leadership and the kind of creativity and innovation that we need to sustain the United States of America. ‘
She evaded DailyMail.com’s question whether she would actively campaign against her former boss Donald Trump. DeVos, still serving as Secretary of Education on January 6, 2021, resigned the day after the attack on the Capitol.
The Biden administration earns an “F” by any measure as they fail on education and try to “radicalize” children by pushing gender ideology and sexualization, DeVos continued.
“They’re not focused on doing the right thing for kids, but on doing the right thing for the unions… they’re doing what they want every step of the way.”
As for what should be the top issue of 2024 heading into the primary, DeVos said the top domestic issue is “educational freedom,” or access to school choice, because students aren’t properly prepared for the future.
“So introducing freedom of education, the ability to start different schools and go to different schools, for children, for teachers, for families, for our country, will be the best way forward.”
The secretary praised the work Florida, Arizona and other states have done to promote school choice and educational freedom — especially in the wake of the learning loss experienced by American children, which was exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The learning loss during COVID was unforgivable and it shouldn’t have happened, but it is very, very real. But let’s be very clear: the learning losses were long before COVID happened,” DeVos told DailyMail.com.
She said the clear solution to learning loss in the US is to enact a nationwide educational freedom policy and allow new providers to enter the market to help fill the void the system has created.
Creating new learning opportunities will not only help children catch up, but they will surpass where they could have been by staying in their assigned school.
The Secretary commended then-Arizona State Secretary Doug Ducey for helping solve problems of access to universal school choice and educational freedom programs.
DeVos called Florida the consistent leader in education initiatives, beginning with former Governor Jeb Bush and continuing to this day under the DeSantis administration.
“Governor Jeb Bush introduced statewide education school choice initiatives when he was governor and you know how that has expanded consistently over term and to wherever they’ve passed universal law in Florida now.”
DeVos called Florida the consistent leader in education initiatives
DeVos’ passion for education began 35 years ago when her oldest son, now 41, started kindergarten.
She told DailyMail.com that her lifelong commitment to the issue began during the process of finding her son the “right school” and volunteering there during his early enrollment days.
“The more I got involved, the more I saw how unfair it was that our policy only supports sending families to schools where they are assigned — if they aren’t wealthy enough to afford a tuition check.
“And so that was really what sparked my interest in education and education, policy, and ultimately educational freedom,” DeVos continued.
Looking to the future, DeVos plans to continue to advocate for education freedom policies in all states.
She warned that until the US completely changes the “structure and formula around how we do K-12 education,” the same problems won’t go away.
My passion hasn’t waned by a long shot. It’s only gotten stronger,” she vowed.