Betsy DeVos: School choice is like picking ‘cellphone companies’

At an annual education technology conference in Utah on Tuesday, education secretary Betsy DeVos managed to compare switching phone carriers to school choice policies.

According to the Washington Post:

“[DeVos] said there are many great cell phone companies, but people have the option to pick which one they want to use.

‘If you can’t get cell phone service in your living room, then your particular provider is failing you,” she told hundreds of people in a packed auditorium in Salt Lake City during her keynote speech. “You should have the option to find a network that does work.'”

DeVos, of course, ignored the dilemma that arises for low-income and middle-class Americans when public schools receive funding cuts, limiting access to crucial resources and creating problems that school vouchers can’t solve.

In many communities, cutting funding to public education to push school choice policies is more comparable to taking away one’s phone plan, than giving them the means to change it.

But such an ignorant analogy is almost to be expected of DeVos, who’s yielded countless gaffes since her appointment. DeVos, a billionaire heiress and donor of millions to the Republican party, has no experience working in education or with student loans, and supports giving tax dollars to private schools, purportedly to build “God’s kingdom.” DeVos has also actively worked to cut Obama-era protections and support for Americans with college debt.

At the conference on Tuesday, DeVos faced heated protest from activists supporting public education.

The tone-deaf speech came just one day before DeVos would be deafeningly booed giving a commencement speech at the historically black Bethune-Cookman University in Florida on Wednesday.

Featured image via Gage Skidmore