Education Nominee Betsy DeVos To Face Questions Today
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Confirmation hearings begin today for President-elect Donald Trump's pick for education secretary, Betsy DeVos. Her critics say, she has no experience with the public school system and should be disqualified as a result with no prior experience as an educator or legislature either. So joining us now is of Devos's supporters Andrew Campanella. He's the president of National School Choice Week and he has worked with Ms. DeVos for several years at the American Federation for Children. Andrew, thanks so much for being here.</s>ANDREW CAMPANELLA, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL SCHOOL CHOICE WEEK: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.</s>CAMEROTA: So let's start there. Ms. DeVos did not go to public school herself. None of her four children go to public school. Of course, that's her prerogative. That's -- There's not a problem with that. But her critics say that, how then can she know in any sort of fulsome way what's going on in the public school system. Let me read to you what Senator Warren says about this nomination. "There is no precedent for an Education Department secretary nominee with your lack of experience in public education. While past nominees for secretary of education have served as teachers, school system leaders, and governors, and came to the Department of Education with deep executive experience in public education, you have held no such position." What's your response?</s>CAMPANELLA: Well, this is person Betsy DeVos who has worked for more than 25 years to improve education. Just because someone doesn't necessarily worked inside a system, but instead works on the outside, works full-time to try to improve education for children by putting kids first, giving parents more choices for their children's education doesn't mean they're unqualified in any way, shape, or form. You know, Alisyn, across the country, parents are told every single day in too many schools that they don't know what's best for their kids because they're not educators. But in reality, parents know their kids the best and that is the message of National School Choice Week which is coming up next week with 21,000 events across the country. Education is about kids and their parents and working with teachers, getting the best education possible.</s>CAMEROTA: Yeah. Look, that sounds wonderful. What parent doesn't want more choice? What parent doesn't want to be involved in their kid's education? The problem in reality, Andrew, is that what the critics say is that, if you divert attention and resources away from public schools then public schools end up getting short shrift. There's 99,000 public schools in the country and that they sometimes pay the price for things like charter schools, et cetera.</s>CAMPANELLA: Well, I think there's a huge misconception here. And that is that school choice is somehow meaning that we're going to abandon public education. The reality is that school choice means all options that parents have or want to have for their kids education, that includes traditional public schools, public charter schools, which are public schools, magnet schools, also public schools, online academies, those are public schools and of course private schools and home schooling. So school choice is all options, not just private schools.</s>CAMEROTA: Right. But you know, the critics of what you're saying say that what ends up happening is the public schools go broke. Here's is Randi Weingarten. She is of course the president of the American Federation of Teachers Union. She says, "What this pick means of Betsy DeVos is far from ensuring that every child has the option of a great public education-the many who have it now will lose it. That's been the experience of 25 years of privatizing, it helps very few, and many students now go to schools that have faced years of austerity and disinvestment."</s>CAMPANELLA: Well first of all, I wish that folks who are involved in education would be optimistic. I'm optimistic about education in America. I'm that optimistic that more American parents than ever before are actively choosing the right schools for their kids. The result of that is higher graduation rate, increased parent's satisfaction, higher college acceptance levels, increased life time earnings for these kids, these parents have chosen schools and education and environments for them. To your question about traditional district schools, research shows us over and over again that the more choices available to families, the better traditional district schools get.</s>CAMEROTA: One last point here and that is that Ms. DeVos is wildly wealthy. Her family -- she comes from a family of billionaires which is fantastic for her. However, she has also made lots of political contributions, including to four of the committee members who she will now be going in front of. How is that draining the swamp?</s>CAMPANELLA: Here's the thing, Alisyn. That's politics. It's Washington. Go to a parent across the country. Ask them, what did they want when it comes to education? They will tell you, they want their child to be in a school that is challenging, motivating and effective. And those options and the need of parent is what's going to be on display next week during School Choice Week where we shine our spotlight on all of the options parents have or want to have for their kids education. They don't care how much money somebody donated to an elected official. They want their kids to be prepared so that they can live their own American dreams. That's really what this discussion needs to be about.</s>CAMEROTA: And we will see what happens today when the confirmation hearing begins. Andrew Campanella, thank you very much for being here.</s>CAMPANELLA: Thank you.</s>CAMEROTA: Chris?</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Ethics questions are swirling around Trump's choice for HHS secretary. Did Congressman Tom Price use his job and influence to make money off stocks? We're going to look at the potential conflict and its ramifications, next.