Dear Secretary DeVos,
Our president, congressmen and women, and, ultimately, vice-president have chosen you as our Secretary of Education, even if it was by a terribly small margin. Now that it is official, I can only hope that you understand the gravity of your position.
Unfortunately, you have made it clear that you have very little exposure to the public school system. I’m here to tell you that while of course there is room for improvement, public schools can still provide a great education. Much of this is due to the dedication and passion of so many of our teachers. Without them, students’ success would not be possible. Unfortunately, many of our public schools operate on limited resources, which can happen for a variety of reasons.
The budgets for public schools are largely controlled by the individual states. This system can be extremely flawed, since some school districts are often overlooked and under-funded. When the state is in financial trouble, education is typically one of the first budgetary cuts politicians make. Because much of a school’s budget comes from property taxes within their district, lower-income areas have fewer resources to pull from. I’m not saying that a good education can only stem from money, but the technology and resources that schools with higher budgets have can definitely add to students’ academic experiences.
So then you bring up the topic of charter schools—which are essentially public schools except parents have a choice in which school they enroll their children. It sounds great. It sounds like everyone can choose to send their child to the best school in the area, the one in the nice neighborhood with high property taxes that is truly state-of-the-art. But suddenly, everyone wants to send their kids to that school. And suddenly, that school is at capacity and cannot take any more students. How do they choose? The school turns to a lottery system—a “random” selection of students who are fortunate enough to attend the desired school. Except how random are these lotteries, truly? Parents still have to submit an application for their child before they are submitted into the lottery—an application with a lot of personal information that could give administrators reasons to consider or reject these students, who are all supposed to have equal opportunity to attend this school. The charter school system can be easily corrupted, and rather than turning to it, we should strive to give all public school districts, as they currently stand, equal resources and opportunities to pass on to their students.
One recent claim made by both you and your appointer is that you plan to rid the U.S. school system of the Common Core standards. While Common Core has definitely been controversial and may not have been well executed, I do believe that it’s mission is in the best interest of the U.S.’s students. The Common Core’s primary goal is to make the education of our children more uniform across the country so that children from each state have similar curriculums. Should children in a rural public elementary school in Montana be learning different math than children in an urban private elementary school in Georgia? I would venture to say that they should be learning the same material in both places so that if a student from each place happens to attend a university in Missouri, they will be entering in with the same knowledge and have as equal as possible chances of success. Common Core just attempts to set a benchmark that all students should strive to meet.
Perhaps most concerning is your opinion that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) does not need to be held up by the federal government, favoring instead to leave it up to the individual states as to whether or not children from birth to age 22 with various disabilities get the education they deserve. I would argue that the majority of Americans, myself included, no matter their political affiliation, would disagree with you on that point.
The IDEA requires school districts to provide all students with physical, mental, or learning disabilities with the accommodations necessary if their disability interferes with their learning experience. These accommodations are provided after a series of assessments and diagnostics, and are outlined in each student’s Individualized Education Plan, which is guaranteed to them under the IDEA. Their services could range from preferential seating in the general education classroom, to designated time with a speech, occupational, or physical therapist. To think that a child’s equal access to education is up for debate just because of their level of physical or mental ability is appalling.
The fact is, the future of our country lies in the future generation. And their future is largely determined by their education. So if you truly wish to “make America great” as your appointer certainly does, you better take your job very seriously, and you better take all children, no matter their race, socioeconomic status, religion, or level of ability, into account.
Signed,
An extremely concerned American
