蜜桃影视

Arlington, Virginia

Tuesday was take two for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos鈥檚 defense of her school safety and choice proposals, this time to parent advocates.

DeVos, fresh on the heels of a much-criticized media blitz Sunday and Monday, spoke to the National PTA鈥檚 annual legislative conference in suburban Washington, D.C., and it was not totally friendly territory. The group initiatives like the ones DeVos has championed, and it as requiring waiting periods before gun purchases and banning internet sales.

School choice has been the focus of DeVos鈥檚 advocacy for decades. It was the source of much of the controversy that has surrounded her nomination and tenure, and it caused some of the most contentious moments of her 60 Minutes interview with Leslie Stahl Sunday night.

The idea that mediocre results should spur action shouldn鈥檛 be controversial, DeVos said Tuesday.

鈥淣ow that I have the opportunity to speak unedited, I鈥檓 not afraid to call out folks who defend stagnation for what it really is: failure,鈥� she said.

Her backers have said that the 60 Minutes interview was deceptively edited. DeVos didn鈥檛 directly mention the interviews in her remarks to the PTA Tuesday, nor did she she take questions from reporters.

Reforms in Michigan, which she championed and tried awkwardly to defend during her exchange with Stahl, are working, with charter school students outperforming their district counterparts, she told the PTA.

But, she added, they haven鈥檛 gone far enough, and students are paying the price.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 borne out in the data. Fourth-grade reading and math scores are essentially a flat line, while states surrounding Michigan offer parents more choices and see improving student achievement,鈥� she said.

Her usual argument that taxpayers鈥� education dollars should fund students, not school systems, wasn鈥檛 well received.

Several in the audience of 200 or so murmured 鈥測es鈥� to DeVos鈥檚 contention that 鈥渢here are some who say that choice takes money away from school buildings.鈥�

The National PTA鈥檚 official position is that 鈥減rivate school choice systems have detrimental effects on our public school systems. Public dollars must remain invested in public schools for the benefit of all students and the future of our nation.鈥� The group supports public school choice, such as charter schools.

鈥淪he posed a lot of questions, but we really didn鈥檛 see any solutions that directly dovetail with National PTA positions in the same area. I still think we鈥檙e probably pretty far apart on how to reach some of the common goals we have,鈥� said Cathy Nathan, advocacy director at the Minnesota PTA.

There was slightly more agreement on gun safety.

PTA members will be on Capitol Hill Wednesday lobbying for the STOP School Violence Act, which gives grants for violence prevention programs, and a bill to encourage more reporting to the federal background check system, Nathan said. Both are part of the Trump administration鈥檚 school safety agenda.

The PTA will also advocate for a bill ending a ban on federal funding of research on gun violence, Nathan said.

President Donald Trump has at times seemed supportive of 鈥� and then backed off 鈥� stricter gun control measures like the ones the PTA supports, including requiring background checks on purchases outside of those at licensed dealers. The Senate considered, but ultimately didn鈥檛 pass, a bill to do so in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.

The PTA listed 鈥済un violence protection,鈥� 鈥渦niversal background checks,鈥� and 鈥渁ssault weapons ban鈥� as among the issues it lobbied Congress on in the third quarter of 2017, according to the most recent federal disclosure available. The 3.7 million鈥搈ember organization spent $33,499 in the quarter on all issues.

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