Pocan was discussing a new report by a public education advocacy group about waste in the U.S. Charter Schools Program.

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Here’s the back-and-forth:

POCAN: Do you think it’s all right for a school to discriminate based on someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity?

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DeVOS: We have laws that cover discriminatory efforts, and our Office for Civil Rights has continued to be very diligent in investigating any allegation of discrimination and will continue to do so.

POCAN: So is that a yes or is that a no? I’m trying to get a yes or no, I guess, on that.

DeVOS: We follow the law as defined. …

POCAN (interrupts her): So personally, you don’t have an opinion on it? … Because you are giving money to some charter schools that do discriminate. …

He went on to ask what the department was doing to recoup the estimated $1 billion the advocacy group Network for Public Education says in a report was wasted on charter schools that never opened or were closed because of mismanagement, low enrollment, fraud and other reasons.

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She did not directly answer, instead saying the nation needs more charter schools.

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