John,

This week is the third anniversary of Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as secretary of education.

In the past three years, she’s turned the job she was appointed to do—look out for America’s students, teachers and public schools—into a political crusade to defund and destabilize our nation’s entire education system. Look no further than Trump’s State of the Union address to see how she’s moved her agenda within his administration and the Republican Party.

Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump have decided the path to re-election is a full-fledged attack on public schools. It’s like they forget that the role of government is actually to help people—like the 90 percent of students in America who attend public schools. Instead, they try to cut funding for public education at every turn, and claim funneling taxpayer money for private and religious schools is the answer. Rather than strengthen the cornerstone of our democracy and the chief enabler of pluralism and opportunity, they choose to defund and destabilize it. No amount of disparaging public schools or of rebranding vouchers and privatization as “choice” and “freedom” changes that.

Because this week marks the third anniversary of Secretary DeVos being sworn in, let’s make her trend on Twitter. Let’s tweet about how wrong she is on vouchers, how wrong she is on student debt, how wrong she is on attacking teachers, and how wrong she is on so many other issues that affect our students and our schools.

Click one of the tweets below to help make it trend:

3 years of @BetsyDeVosEd has been bad for public education, bad for students and bad for educators. Why do so many things to hurt students? #Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Why did @BetsyDeVosEd roll back protections for:
⚈ #LGBTQ students?
⚈ Students of color?
⚈ Women?
⚈ Student borrowers?
#Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Why has @BetsyDeVosEd consistently sided with #4profits and loan servicers over students? #Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Why has @BetsyDeVos continued to make the student debt crisis worse? #Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Why does @BetsyDeVosEd ignore the advice of teachers and school staff on what students need to succeed? 3 years a Ed Secretary and she's still not listening. #Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Rather than support the public schools 90% of children attend, DeVos has repeatedly tried to push unacceptable vouchers. Why keep pushing them when parents are choosing public schools? #Questions4Betsy https://www.teenvogue.com/story/american-federation-of-teachers-betsy-devos-three-years-bad-for-education-op-ed

Despite the fact that parents overwhelmingly support public schools, want investment in and support for their schools, and choose to send their kids to public schools, DeVos is so determined to push her version of vouchers that she sat in on a Supreme Court case that seeks to mandate vouchers for religious schools across the U.S.

She’s sabotaged Public Service Loan Forgiveness, stripped LGBTQ students of their rights, sided with predatory for-profit colleges and debt collectors, and tried to cut vital programs from the Department of Education’s budget. She’s gone from being the person who talked at her Senate hearing about having guns in schools to fend off grizzly bears, to being one of Trump’s longest-serving Cabinet members.

Parents, communities and educators want freedom, all right: the freedom to fund our kids’ futures and meet our children’s needs. They want investment in the services that make a difference in their lives, not in the private alternatives that further segregate and divide us. Moreover, studies have consistently shown that vouchers fail to improve outcomes and that three-quarters of the public reject them.

We’re going to keep fighting her policies, and we’re going to keep winning those fights. For now, let’s make DeVos’ attacks on public schools trend so that nobody forgets how bad her tenure as secretary of education has been.

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
AFT President

P.S. Click here to read our op-ed about Betsy DeVos in Teen Vogue here.