Betsy DeVos says she hasn’t ‘intentionally visited’ schools in her home state, Michigan, that are underperforming, in awkward interview

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, stumbled through a TV interview on Sunday, admitting she did not know why many US schools were underperforming and agreeing that maybe she should visit some in order to find out.



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The billionaire rarely gives interviews and is the only member of the Trump cabinet to be protected by a squad of US marshals, because she attracts controversy and protests and has received death threats.

DeVos was brought into the Trump administration with no experience as an educator but with a reputation for promoting private and charter schools. She supports switching government money from the federally funded public school system into schemes such as vouchers that allow parents to send their children to private, religious or charter schools.

DeVos most recently faced bitter criticism after visiting Majory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, soon after a shooting there in February in which 17 people were killed. She mostly avoided talking to students, especially those who were calling for stricter gun control laws.

On CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday evening, the interviewer Lesley Stahl pointed out to DeVos that despite her having had a huge influence over school policy in her home state, Michigan, the performance of public schools there was declining.

DeVos said: “Michigan schools need to do better. There is no doubt about it.”

Stahl asked: “Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they’re doing?”

DeVos said: “I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming.”

Stahl pointed out that maybe she should. “Maybe I should,” said DeVos. “Yes.”

Asked what she and her department had been doing in her first year in office, she said: “We’ve begun looking at and rolling back a lot of the overreach of the federal government in education.”

Under DeVos, such actions have included repealing Obama-era recommendations that transgender students use public bathrooms that suit their gender identity and changing Title IX guidelines to allow colleges greater power to give the benefit of the doubt to those accused of sexual assault.

Asked if she thought false accusations of rape were as common as actual attacks, DeVos said: “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

On the subject of arming schoolteachers, which Trump has recommended, DeVos said she could not imagine her first-grade teacher carrying a gun but said it should be considered “for those who are capable”.

DeVos will head Trump’s controversial new commission on school safety.

The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, on Monday sidestepped questions about DeVos’s interview performance and seemed to downplay DeVos’s role on the commission.

“I think that the president is going to be the lead on school safety when it comes to this administration,” she said, adding that he had laid out his positions on gun laws.

“That’s the focus of the president. Not one or two interviews, but on actual policy that can help protect the safety and security of school kids across this country.”