Michael Bennet, US Senator from Colorado and presidential candidate, had what the pundits this morning are calling “a moment” at last night’s Democratic Debate on CNN. Let’s hope that moment ends immediately. Ironically enough, Bennet’s big moment came as he waxed poetic about “America’s public schools”, a topic that has received a depressingly minuscule amount of attention. Because while Bennet […]

The week ended with yet another excellent article from Peter Greene​ in Forbes, this time on the dangers of “Tax Credit Scholarships”, one of Betsy DeVos major thrusts as Secretary of Education under Donald Trump. So, what are Tax Credit Scholarships? They are complicated financial mechanisms that allow businesses to divert their tax payments to fund specific private and religious […]

Secretary of Education and Disney villain Betsy DeVos spoke to a group of education writers in Baltimore the other day, and it appears her feelings are hurt. “I never imagined I’d be a focus of your coverage. I don’t enjoy the publicity that comes with my position. I don’t love being up on stage or on any kind of platform. […]

In a presidential administration that seems to function as a turnstile with people coming and going from their positions on a nearly continuous basis, one person seems to be a constant: Betsy DeVos. It’s no surprise, of course. She and her husband and other families members give enormous amounts of money to Republicans. The Center for Responsive Politics found the […]

A couple of weeks ago, I published an essay titled Betsy DeVos and the Koch brothers must be so proud: Michigan teacher salaries down 16% from 2009. The title is pretty self-explanatory and the bottom line is that there is a very predictable (and predicted) teacher shortage in our state now because of how we have demonized, diminished, and demeaned […]

For those of us following the news, each new day brings a bevy of unbelievable and shocking stories… Reports of Russian election meddling! A national emergency (that’s not a national emergency)! Cabinet secretaries wreaking havoc on the environment, education, and human rights! Kids in cages at the border! The Mueller Report! And in the middle of each of these stories? […]

Michiganders tried. We REALLY did. We TRIED to warn America about Betsy DeVos. We tried to tell the country that she is the epitome of everything that is wrong about the corporatist and dominionist approach to the destruction of public education. And nobody was more outspoken about her and her horrid goals than the writers here at Eclectablog. We’ve written […]

The New York Post recently published an eye-catching headline (“Case closed: Charter schools deliver more education ‘bang’ for the buck“) about a new “research study” (more on that in a bit…) from Corey DeAngelis and Patrick Wolf, from the Walton Family Foundation-funded “Department of Education Reform”, not to be confused with an actual school or college of education, that…you know…prepares […]

In light of Betsy DeVos’ comments on the benefits of large class sizes and hiring fewer teachers – “In fact, students may be better served by being in larger classes, if by hiring fewer teachers, a district or state can better compensate those who have demonstrated high ability and outstanding results…” – I wanted to share the following statistics from […]

One of Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ favorite “talking points” is that public schools are not “innovative,” and that the solution to our problems in education is to invest public tax dollars in creating more charter schools and voucher programs for private and religious schools: “There’s still not enough innovation,” she said Tuesday, continuing her familiar focus on school choice […]

It’s become clear that public opinion has finally shifted against charter schools, vouchers, and the privatization of public education by corporate education reformers. This shift is now creating a great deal of frustration and uneasiness within the corporate ed reform community, who are sensing that their efforts over the past couple of decades may not be successful after all–and that […]