Former Secretary of Ed, Betsy DeVos, says Department of Education should be abolished

Betsy DeVos, former US Secretary of Education under President Trump, continued her advocacy for state and local control of schools last weekend, saying she thinks the Department of Education should be disbanded.  

DeVos’ comments were made at the Moms For Liberty National Summit, a four-day event focused on parental rights and advocacy in education. 

“I personally think the Department of Education should not exist,” DeVos told Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice during a keynote discussion on Saturday. The 500-person crowd erupted in applause and cheers after the remark.  

DeVos went on to say that decisions in education should be left to state and local school boards.  

A longtime advocate for local control and educational freedom, DeVos recently published a book, “Hostages No More,” detailing her time as Secretary of Education and outlining her ideas on school choice, curriculum transparency and parent-led education. 

 “I think the last two years have really laid bare many of the challenges that many of us, if not all of us, have seen during the last number of years in a way people never anticipated,” DeVos told reimaginED when the book was released. “Whether it was lockdowns, mandates, curriculum issues, lack of rigor or a lack of actually learning anything, any number of issues have really brought the whole possibility of education freedom to a whole new level.” 

While DeVos’ comments from the Moms for Liberty summit have received widespread coverage, the event, held in Tampa, Florida, featured keynote addresses from other notable proponents of educational freedom.  

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Rick Scott both spoke on the issues, and the conference included panel discussions and breakout sessions on topics such as school board activism, school safety and parental rights in public education.