Betsy DeVos, nominee for Education Secretary, has little relevant experience or credentials as an education leader that would qualify her to set national standards and prioritize the billions of tax dollars that support our public schools. She lacks an education degree, and she has no experience in pedagogy, curriculum development, or school governance. She has not attended, taught in, or been a parent of a child in public schools. Moreover, she seeks to privatize public education and bring public dollars into private, religious schools.

DeVos's financial disclosure form, given to the Office of Government Ethics, was so woefully incomplete that her initial confirmation hearing date was delayed to provide additional time for her to disclose relevant conflicts of interest within the last five years, as well as her plans to resolve those conflicts. DeVos has a net worth of $5.1 billion and is current chairman of the Windquest Group, a Michigan-based investment management company, as well as an heir to the Amway fortune, and she and her husband donated more than $2.7 million to Republicans in the 2016 election cycle. It is notable that DeVos and her relatives gave at least $818,000 to 20 current Republican Senators, including at least $250,000 to five members of the Senate Commission on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which will be reviewing her nomination; she has commented that she fully expects "a return" on her investment. Furthermore, her family has given more than $6.7 million to Focus on the Family, a group that supports conversion therapy for LGBTQ individuals, and they have donated to campaigns to fight the legalization of gay marriage in many states.

DeVos is a fierce proponent of expanding charter schools and of taxpayer-funded vouchers that would allow students to attend private, religious schools with taxpayer funding, despite data suggesting that at best, voucher programs only marginally improve student performance and in many instances are ineffective or even detrimental. She recently publicly opposed the Common Core State Standards, calling them a "federalized boondoggle." DeVos has described public education as "a monopoly, a dead end" and has donated millions of dollars to campaigns that would amend Michigan's constitution to allow school vouchers and would limit Michigan's ability to regulate charter schools. She has lobbied for the expansion of for-profit charter schools. After more than a decade of DeVos's influence, Michigan is now one of five states with declining early reading scores, and 80 percent of Michigan charter schools are privatized, compared with 13 percent nationwide. Her lack of experience in education means that the American public lacks insight into DeVos's policy positions on many critical issues.

The Senate needs to thoroughly investigate DeVos's views on charter schools and the privatization of education. Senators should consider asking:

• Many of the charter schools you promoted in Michigan had little oversight of quality, with uncertified teachers and little or no evaluation of educational outcomes. How can you justify the use of public dollars going to schools that did not meet even the most minimum standards? Shouldn't minimal quality standards be enforced in all schools to ensure that all children learn and succeed?
• President-Elect Trump's education policy calls for a $20 billion taxpayer-funded voucher program to provide school choice for every child living in poverty. How can you support a program that blatantly violates many state constitutions? How will this program, which disproportionately favors urban students over rural students, allow all parents the "choice" that you and President-Elect Trump are advocating for?

• The population of students served by the Department of Education includes individuals with disabilities, English-language learners, and students who have fallen behind because of sub-par teaching. Private schools that accept vouchers and most charter schools sometimes refuse to serve these students, and yet the money being removed from the public system leaves limited resources to address the needs of these students and prepare them for productive adulthood. How would you address this dilemma?

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