The hearing for Betsy DeVos, Trump’s education secretary nominee, is Jan. 17, next Tuesday. See accuracy.org/calendar for upcoming events.

In a Declaration of Principles released today, 175 deans state: “Our children suffer when we deny that educational inequities exist and when we refuse to invest sufficient time, resources, and effort toward holistic and systemic solutions. The U.S. educational system is plagued with oversimplified policies and reform initiatives that were developed and imposed without support of a compelling body of rigorous research, or even with a track record of failure.” They stress the importance of:

* “Upholding the role of public schools as a central institution in the strengthening of our democracy;
* “Protecting the human and civil rights of all children and youth, especially those from historically marginalized communities ..”.

Among the signers:

KATHY SCHULTZ, katherine.schultz@colorado.edu
Schultz is dean of the School of Education at the University of Colorado.

KEVIN KUMASHIRO kkumashiro[at]usfca.edu, @kevinkumashiro
Kumashiro is dean of the University of San Francisco School of Education and author of Bad Teacher! How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture. See a recent interview with Kumashiro: “What DeVos Might Do to Public Schools.”

See also from the Detroit Free Press: “Betsy DeVos: Fighter for kids or destroyer of public schools?“