Transcripts For CSPAN2 Education Secretary Nominee Betsy DeVos Testifies At Confirmation Hearing 20170120

Pensions committee the topics include School Choice, vouchers, Student Loan Debt and Education Program funding. This is three and a half hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] the hearing of the Health Education labor and Pensions Committee will come to order. This hearing today is to consider the nomination of betsy devos the United States secretary of education. Senator murray and i will make an Opening Statement. I will introduce the nominee. We welcome senator scott a member of this committee senator lieberman a distinguished former member of this body who will make introductory remarks and following the nominees comments we will have a fiveminute round of questions. One note we have capital officers here today who will remove anyone who attempts to disrupt the hearing. This is the first meeting of our committee in the new congress. This is a committee as will become evident as we go along that has some considerable differences of opinion on a variety of issues but we have found that we can sometimes resolve them and important ways. Last year we passed what the majority leader senator mcconnell said was the most important bill in the congress 21st century cures than the year before no child left behind which a president obama called a christmas miracle plus 33 other bills signed by the president , 33 in total. Want to thank senator him murray and the democrats as well as republicans the republicans on the committee for operating in that fashion. Youve done that by showing courtesy toward self and south and were witnesses which i hope will be evident today. Before my opening remarks i would like to make a word that more than 25 years ago ms. Devos i was sitting where you sat, you are sitting and as the nominee for u. S. Secretary of education and former senator Howard Metzenbaum of ohio said to me well governor ive heard some disturbing things about you but im not going to bring them up here. Senator Nancy Kassem Bohm of kansas looked at him and said well howard i think he just did. It was then he put a secret hold on me help me up for two or three months. You wont have to go through that because we abolish secret holds not long ago and because we are going to apply what i would call the golden rule the one that comes from the book of matthew which applies the same procedures to you that we used in 2001 and 2005 for president george w. Bushs education secretary nominees and in 2009 and 2016 for president obamas education secretary nominee so we will consider you and then vote just as we did them. Marty duncan arne duncan president obamas first secretary of education confirmed a week later. John kings hearing was on february the 25th and he was confirmed two and a half weeks later. We proceed from mrs. Devos and each senator is have available since january 4 the committees required forms. The rules require them to begin more than a week in advance for the fbi background check has been done and senator murray and i have heard the results. Ms. Devos is provided the opposite government ethics on december 12 with all the relevant information about her financial affairs. We will have that letter from that office which will be an agreement between ms. Devos in that office on how to deal with any conflicts of interest before we vote in committee on her nomination. Now two questions. Ms. Mrs. Devos is met with each of us in our offices. Several of us have written questions given to her. Today we will have five minutes for further questions. Again im applying the golden rule one round of fiveminute questions as was the case for both president obamas education nominees and it was a case for me in 1991. In those cases following the fiveminute round the chairman and one member asked additional questions and we will do that again as we did before. I will ask questions and i will ask senator murray if she would like to do the same. Each of us will have a chance to ask additional questions in a reasonable number in writing by the close of business on thursday at 5 00 p. M. And then we will meet in executive session next tuesday to consider mrs. Devos nomination and other business and if the final office of government ethics letters received by this friday in order to give senators a chance to review it before tuesday. Now, following my opening remarks of senator murray will make hers and then we will hear from senator scott, senator lieberman and then we will hear from mrs. Devos. Betsy devos and my opinion is on our childrens side. She has devoted her life to helping mainly lowincome children have better choices of schools. Most of the criticism i have heard of her amounts to three things. One, she supports public Charter Schools are u2 she supports giving low income parents more choices of schools for their children. She is considered the wealth and effectiveness to advance those ideas but i believe shes in the mainstream of Public Opinion and her critics are not. First, lets take the idea of Charter Schools. They are Public Schools with fewer government rules, fewer union rules so teachers have more freedom to teach and parents have more freedom to choose the school that best suits their child. Theres nothing new about it. 1991 and 92 president h. W. Bush proposed start from scratch schools he called new american schools and raise 70 million for new American Schools Development Corporation to encourage innovative ideas and then in 1993 and january in my last act as president bushs education secretary i wrote every single superintendent in the country and i asked him to try some things that was invented in minnesota by the democratic labour party, something called Charter Schools. There were 12 of them then. Since then there has been broad support for the idea. Albert shankar the late head of the American Federation of teachers endorsed those Charter Schools. 197797 president clinton said we need Charter Schools by 2002. Senator Hillary Clinton supporter Charter Schools. Since president george w. Bush supported Charter Schools president obama supports Charter Schools. The First Education secretary arnie duncan described himself as the most strong supporter of Charter Schools. John king the current education secretary found at the Charter School and ran Charter Schools. Congress in 1994 and 98, 2001 and 2015 always bipartisan usually by huge margins supported Charter Schools. 43 states and the District Of Columbia operate Charter Schools so over nearly 30 years those 12 democratic farmer labor Charter Schools in minnesota have grown 6800 public Charter Schools. 6 of americas Public School students attend them so who is in the mainstream. The labour Party Minnesota president bush, Clinton Bush Obama the last six u. S. Education secretarys the u. S. Congress 43 states the District Of Columbia devos or her critics . Obviously she is in the mainstream and she is on the side of our children. Lets go to the other side. Giving low income parents more choices of schools that wealthy americans already have enrolled more specific way the objection is public money shouldnt follow for children to an accredited school of their Parents Choice Public Private or religious. Arguing against that is arguing against the most successful social policy this congress has ever had come at the g. I. For veterans which appropriated federal dollars to follow veterans to the school of their choice motor dane Notre Dame University tennessee and the accredited institution. Produce the greatest generation and to produce the model for all of our federal aid for colleges, 29 billion in pell grants this year are in vouchers. They follow the student to the school of their choice. Nearly 100 billion in new Student Loans. Follow the student to the school of their choice. Why such a great idea for College Students deemed to be such a dangerous idea for k12 students . Many of us believe competition produces the best colleges and it might produce the best schools. Many scholars have suggested a poor kids bill of rights 40 years ago. Today 50 states provide parents more choices of Public Schools, 15 is attend a school other than open enrollment and 40 allow sending children to schools outside their district and 34 states within their district in addition nearly 4000 children are served by 50 private School Choice programs across 25 states the District Of Columbia and Douglas County colorado. Congress passed Bipartisan Legislation with senator lieberman at the head of it creating the d. C. School Voucher Program in 2003 helping 6100 children and more than 1000 children children staying at being in line waiting for that opportunity. So there has been growing support since president h. W. Bush proposed the g. I. Bill 1 kids to let states you wanted to do today where 2015, 45 United States senators support scholarships to their kids that i propose in senator scott or pose for students with disabilities. 45 United States senators thought that was a good idea. According to the 2013 global Public Opinion survey 73 of americans support School Choice, 64 say if given a financial opportunity they would send one or all of their children to different schools of who is in the mainstream here . The g. I. Bill for veterans programs Student Loans both president bush and president elects 25 States Congress and the d. C. Voucher program 45 u. S. Senators and 2015, 73 of americans ms. Devos or her critics. Its pretty obvious she is the mainstream and shes on the side of our children for the final criticism issues used her wealth to support these ideas. I think she deserves credit for that not criticism. For the critics happier she spent her time and money trying to deny children more choices of schools a wealthy form wealthy families are to have . She is and has been on our childrens side. A supporter confirmation i look forward to working with her. Senator murray. Thank you very much chairman alexander. I look forward to working with you and all of our colleagues in congress. I want to welcome our new members on this committee senators. Kaine hassan and young and thank you ms. Devos virginie is here today and by the way welcome to the next of your family who i know is doing uso. This is the first of many hearings that we will be holding on president elect trumps nominees critical positions in the federal government so i want to start by reiterating the importance of the senates role in this process and this committees role in the senate works. President trump has the right to fill his cabinet with people he thinks will fulfill obligations for our country but that doesnt mean the senate should hear rubber stamp. To the contrary we owe it to the people we represent to make sure every nominee is not only qualified and free of conflicts of interest but that he or she will put families and work are his first and not millionaires, billionaires are big corporations. President elect trump was the first president ial candidate aides to not release his tax returns and he is openly flouting ethics conventions regarding his personal and family businesses. Some people say this means the bar has now been lowered for ethics in public service. I refuse to accept that im going to continue to hold the Incoming Administration to the highest ethical standard. This is what the American People deserve regardless of who they voted for, where their tax dollars are going and who is benefiting. I believe in an administration around conflict of interest are likely to be blurred at the top they need to be been cleared at the individual agencies even while we in Congress Work to ensure the highest ethical standards are maintained and theres accountability to taxpayers from the top of the government all the way down. So im going to continue pushing for robust scrutiny of every one of these nominees and i appreciate mr. Abbas has said to me she knows the importance of transparency and openness. She is committed to addressing every ethical concerns make sure that no corners are cut and she would go to Great Lengths to make sure no corners are cut however i am extremely disappointed that we are moving forward with this hearing before receiving the proper paperwork from the office of government ethics. When president obama entered the white House Republicans insisted on having an ethics letter in hand before moving to a hearing. Thats later mcconnell wrote a letter to leader reid making a specific demand an ethics letter in hand with time to review and an fbi that round check before the hearing was held so i am very concerned and i can only hope cutting quarters corners in rushing nominees through will not be the new norm. We are here today to hear from president elect trumps nominee to lead the department of education. As a former preschool teacher and School Board Member as well as a mom who got her start in college fighting for public investments in Early Learning i take this issue very seriously. I owe everything i have two strong Public Schools. I was able to attend with my six brothers and sisters and none of us and my family would have been able to go to college were not a robust federal support. We have those opportunities because our government was committed to investing in us but i know thats not the case for every community today. So although we have a long way to go im absolutely committed to making sure the federal government is a Strong Partner to our Public Schools districts and states and every student has access to highquality Public Education that allows them to succeed and we focus our policy investments on strengthening Public Schools for all students and certainly not afford diverting taxpayer dollars to Fund Vouchers that dont work for unaccountable private schools. Thats why we are so proud to work with chairman alexander and so many others here today to pass every student succeed act which gives flexibility to states and School Districts but also includes strong accountability for our schools and reiterate our nations commitment strengthening Public Education especially for our most vulnerable students in our communities. This commitment goes beyond k12 of course because the federal government in general and the department of education specifically has an Important Role to play in supporting, protecting and investing in all of our students from her youngest learners to those in Higher Education and adults and parents seeking to improve their skills midcareer. Leaving this agency is a big job and its an important job and i consider it to be my job to do everything i can to make sure whoever fills that is truly committed to putting students and families first. Ms. Devos im looking forward to hearing your answers to some questions as i have a number of serious concerns that need to be addressed. First im going to ask you about your extensive conflicts of interest. As a billionaire with hundreds if not thousands of investments made through complex Financial Instruments many of which are made in ways that are not transparent and very hard to track you need to make it very clear how youll be avoiding conflicts of interest should you be confirmed. That goes for your investments as well as the web of investments made by your immediate family. Despite starting off on the wrong track and not having an ethics letter complete before this hearing today appreciate what you are doing to provide this committee the information to understand how you intend to live up to the highest level of ethics and transparency. So far you have not accepted the call to release three years of tax returns but i hope you consider that approach you cooperate fully with the office of government elections. Second Major Concerns with how you spent your career and fortune fighting to privatize Public Education and got investments in Public Schools. I will have specific questions about how the privatization policy has impacted students and how you intend to use the public trust and taxpayer dollars to support Public Education and not continue to undermine schools and teachers from inside department as you have is an advocate from the outside. I would want to know more about the large constitution you may two groups are ideologically opposed to workers including teachers and impose antiulcer btr antiwomens beliefs in Public Schools in this incident. I want to make sure you publicly said that implementing our every student succeed that are holding a guardrail and outline i would want to know how you plan to tackle the persistent achievement gap. Third, what you have been outspoken on k12 issues your record and position are not clear in a number of critical areas so i want to learn more about how you plan to approach Higher Education and whether or not we can count on you to stand with students and borrowers. Im very interested in your thoughts on title ix in how we can do Everything Possible to stop the scourge of campus Sexual Assault. I was not happy with how you talked about this issue when we met. Im hopeful you have learned more about it since then and are prepared to address it seriously. Im going to want to know how your personal religious and ideological views on Womens Health and safety would impact how you approach this issue in the department and im very concerned with what has been reported in a the press about your views on the importance of the office of civil rights which works to ensure students with disabilities, lgbtq students religious minorities women in earls students of color and all of our students are treated with dignity and respect and im going to watch to know more about how you enforce critical civil rights laws. As all of my colleagues know i have a particular passion for Early Learning and i want to hear where you stand on how the federal government can help ensure that every child is prepared for kindergarten. Those are just a few of the issues so i am looking forward to robust dialogue tonight but im hoping you are transparent about your view open about your record and the impact it has had on students and willing to make some straightforward commitment regarding the core responsibility of the department and the role you hope to take you that i will be asking you to commit to bribe providing this committee with Additional Information responses to all reasonable followup questions as quickly as possible hopeful this can be a smooth process. Mr. Chairman i know my members are all here tonight. Theyre hoping for more than just five minutes of questions on this critical nominee and i hope to soon as we get through this youll consider doing now. Scenic thank you senator murray. Im going to follow the golden rule. Im not going to change the rules and apply the rules to ms. Devos that we have applied to president obamas nominees are president bushs nominees that we will have a fiveminute round of questions in you and i can ask questions after that for another five minutes. Thats exactly will we have done before. Members of this committee have met with mrs. Devos and some have asked written questions. We will have two days to think of more and she will need tangent and before we vote. As far as tax returns are concerned if you would like to bring that up you can bring that up at our next executive session which will be the 24th of if her government ethics letter is completed by friday. I would note Committee Rules dont require tax returns to be reported by a president ial nominees. We did not require a president obamas two nominees for education secretary. If we want to change the rules we can do that but im not in favor of changing the rules in the middle of the process. Mr. Chairman may i ask a point of order . Would assure point of order . I believe mr. Chairman we got a second round with a john king hearings. I asked two rounds of questions. Scenic you did and i did and in the last two nominees mr. Duncan and mr. King we had a fiveminute round and then the chairman and once other senator asked five minutes of questions. I will ask questions and give to senator murray the opportunity to be the other senator who does that. Mr. Chairman i would say nobody asked for additional time we hear members questions we will have an opportunity. I pursue their requests are not going to change the rules and they love the game. I was not aware of those rules. Is the president that we followed as far back as 1991 minus education secretary. We did it for both president obama and and we are going to do it for this one. I was aware there was a precedent. Scenic that is as clear president as i can think of. Mr. Chairman i would like to have 36 letter signed by 133 positions expressing opposition for this nomination to be placed on the record. Scenic they will be. We welcome the nominee mrs. Devos to the hearing and we welcome your husband and your daughters and your sons, daughter among your soninlaw and we welcome all of our other guests here. Mrs. Sub two will be introduced first by senator kim scott a member of this committee and a strong champion for education than she will be introduced by senator Joe Lieberman who has served here for 24 years representing connecticut until he retired in january 2013. Thank you both for joining us. I have already said what i have to say about mrs. Devos. I think she will be an excellent secretary of education so i think we should move ahead with senator scott introduction and then turned over to senator lieberman and then we will hear from mrs. Devos and then our questions. Smith thank you mr. Chairman that i will note that im surprised at the number of photographers who showed up here to senator liebermans introduction so very well done senator lieberman. I have known the devos family for about three decades. I started learning how to sell when i was in college and was a part of one of the devos companies that arent how to sell so i am very thankful that a champion of Public Education a champion of education and specifically a champion of education for poor kids to do sitting to my left. I recall my own upbringing as a poor kid and by the time i was in the fourth grade i had been to four different schools. Its really important for us to recognize the powerful impact of education have specific weight on poor kids. Im excited about this transition looking forward to the opportunity to have betsy devos is a champion for all children, fraud education specifically for what i consider high potential kids that others call at risk kids. For the last 28 years ms. Devos has been champion for those kids, a lifelong resident of michigan. She attended college in grand Rapids Michigan. Mrs. Devos is a businesswoman and an entrepreneur. She is a chairman of the American Federation for children and the wind quest group. For those of you who may not know but see she had a humble beginning. Her parents mortgaged everything they had, everything they had to start a small auto parts business. She still remembers a student, seven years old helping her father paint a cinderblock building. He came into the office of the First Manufacturing location. I believe the color was teal blue. During the summer months when she was in college but see work to third shift at her familys business. She understands the sacrifice that families have to make in order to build a better life for themselves and for their children. She has successfully advocated for expansion of education opportunity in dozens and dozens of states. She has also helped her husband launch a Charter School in grand Rapids Michigan which is now one of the highest performing Charter Schools in her home state. I have been to that school. Before there was any idea that she might sit before this committee, way before we ever assumed there would be a trump candidacy, several years ago i visited the high school and had a chance to sit at lunch and talk to the kids understand and appreciate their hunger for education was stirred by this devos family, stirred by this devos familys commitment to Public Education at this charter high school. She makes sure students go to safe and highperforming schools whether they are public, private, charter traditional or nontraditional schools. She understands the need to focus on accountability not just to have a system in place but to actually hold schools accountable for the results they have. Was she supports is holding all schools accountable whether they are traditional Public Schools or Charter Schools. Mrs. Devos is clearly not opposed to accountability. Bush is opposed to is holding some schools accountable but not all schools. Bush is opposed to his leaving children trapped in schools that we know, we know are failing, feeling the very students that will have no hope if they do not receive a highquality education bless you. Only one more left. Parents and students could not ask for a better role model or a more thoughtful leader to move the Education System into the 21st century. Betsy cares. She questions, she considers and then and only then will she act. These are the traits of a leader and a doer. I look forward to supporting her nomination throughout the next few weeks. Thank you mr. Chairman. And i think you. Senator lieberman, welcome. And cute mr. Chairman senator murray and special members of the committee and a special love to chris murphy my friend and successor from connecticut. Its great to be back in the senate today to introduce betsy devos for your consideration as the next secretary of education. I met betsy several years ago in one of the many bipartisan efforts to improve the quality of education of americas children that she and so many others have been involved in. When i left the senate as a way to continue my homework and education reform i became a member of the board of the American Federation for children a Nonprofit Organization that ms. Devos founded to provide better education options for lower income children throughout america. Im very proud of what the afc has achieved particularly at the state level. More than 400,000 lower income families have been empowered with Financial Support that take their children out of schools where they thought the kids were not getting an adequate education and put them into schools that they thought were better. For me as a democrat it is especially gratifying that many of these afc state programs have been enacted with bipartisan support in state legislatures. None of the progress which the afc has achieved very specifically for those 400,000 plus kids would have occurred without betsys leadership which is inclusive and motivating. Organizing such roles and develop practical goals to achieve them, she is really purposedriven team builder and i have seen that in my membership on the board of the afc. I understand to the president education is bigger than anything she or for that matter most any of us except for senator Alexander Corse has ever left but everything i have seen tells me that betsy is ready to take on this assignment and do it very well. I know that some people are questioning her qualifications to be secretary of education and too many of those questions to me seemed to be based on the fact that she doesnt come from within the education establishment but honestly i believe that today thats one of the most important qualifications you could have for this job. She has many others. Her mother and her grandmother, she cares about children generally and has been involved in education like so many parents and local citizens School Board Members across america for almost 30 years. Her involvement has not just been as a philanthropist and advocate for reform though she has been a real leader in both, she also mentors students in the Public Schools from grand Rapids Michigan. Heres another important qualification that i think betsy has for this job. She will ask the right questions such as is this federal Education Program working . Is a giving our kids the education they need to lift effective and satisfying lives . If not, how can we improve it . An examination of the facts of the state of American Education today makes clear that although current federal Education Programs are working for many of our children they are failing millions of others in here are just a few of the salient and to me troubling facts. Among all students of all income groups less than 40 of High School Graduate are college or career ready according to the a. C. T. A recent report said only 35 of eighthgraders were proficient on the reading exam and only 34 on the math. Another worse about twothirds of eighthgraders are not proficient in reading and math. Proficient is the middle ranking among lowerincome students the shortcomings and Educational Status quo falls disproportionately. There are too many ways and i get this one example. There are more than 1200 high schools in america who have more than 1. 1 Million Students that fail to graduate from high school at least one third of their students. As many as half the students to make it High School Graduation and the schools primarily educate lowincome students and students of color. These low regulation. High schools are located in both urban and rural areas in almost every state. New york has 199 of them. Georgia, 115, california 105 in alabama with each more than 50. These are jarring numbers and i think they cry out for National Education reform. We are just not keeping our founders promise of equal opportunity. We are not preparing the next generation of americans to enable our economy to compete successfully in the world. We just cant accept the status quo in education anymore. We need a change agent and an education reformer to be education secretary. A leader who has one big goal which is to give every child in america regardless of Family Income or zip code a firstclass education. That is the exact way the kind of education secretary i believe thats the devos can and will be. Because betsy has been fighting for reform and disrupting the status quo for so long her nomination is naturally controversial. After all she has directly challenge the education establishment by supporting Charter Schools and other School Choice programs but i can tell you that at all my work with her i have never heard betsy speak against our Public School system. Ive heard her ask what we could do for the lowincome kids trapped in those schools until we can make more of our Public Schools as good as they should be. Is it fair to stand back and not help the parents who want better for their children but cant get it just because they cant afford it . Is it acceptable to have so many children from all incomes groups graduate from our high schools unprepared for college in the hightech economy they will enter . No comment is not and thats why mr. Chairman and senator murray and members of the committee i hope you will confirm her to be secretary of education by think its it within our National Interests to give her a chance to change the status quo in our schools and secure their future for our country and for all of our children. Thank you very much. Soon i think you senator lieberman. Thank you for coming back to you for a todays are welcome mrs. Devos id like to enter into the record 97 letters of support for mrs. The boss for education secretary from a variety of school groups, former education secretarys, governors business groups and others. Mrs. Sub two. Thank you chairman. Chairman alexander Ranking Member moran senators thank you for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon. Thank you senator scott and lieberman for those kind words of introduction. I honor and applaud your lifelong dedication to the success of our nation students and your fine public service. I want to begin by thanking my families or their support. Many of them are seated behind me here. Except for my five grandchildren feel the switches five so was not advisable as they join us today. But im very honored that president elect trump has asked me to join his team and im grateful for his dedication to education. If confirmed i look forward to working with him Vice President elect pants and all of you to bring Educational Opportunities to every family in this great nation. While we may have differences i think we can all agree that learning is a lifelong pursuit is a fundamental american virtue we are blessed beyond measure with educators to pour themselves into students. The schools in which they work are as diverse as the students educate. In fact all of us here and our children have attended a mix of traditional publicly funded and private schools. This is a reflection of the diversity that is todays Public Education. Growing up in michigan i attended local Christian School and then calvin college. My greatest educational influence in life was a Public Schoolteacher named elsa prince. While her students called her mrs. Prance to this day i just call her mom. When and i became parents education took on a whole new meaning to the right nice that other parents were not able to make similar decisions about their childrens education. Based on income or their zip code in which they lived. When our oldest reach school age we visited the Potters House a christian Christian School which serves many lowincome families in my hometown. We saw the struggles and sacrifices many of these families faced when trying to choose the best educational option for their children. For me this was not just an issue of Public Policy by the national injustice. I committed to do something about it and its become my lifes work. I applaud the great work of the Potters House and his cofounder john boyd who is with us here today. He and his team of teachers are doing a great job but heres a sad reality. In the past 28 years they need and demand for these other options have grown unabated. I share rezonable trumps view that its time to shift the debate from what the system thinks is best for kids to what moms and dads want, expect and deserve. Parents no longer believe that a onesizefitsall model of learning meets the needs of every child and that no other options exist weather magnet, virtual, charter, faithbased home or any other combination. Yet too many parents are denied access to the whole range of options, choices that many of us here in this room have exercised for our own children. Why in 2017 r. Were still questioning parents ability to exercise educational choices for their children . Im a Firm Believer that parents should be empowered to choose the learning environment best for you to their individual children. The vast majority of students in this country will continue to attend Public Schools. If confirmed i will be a strong advocate for great Public Schools. But if a school is troubled or unsafe or not a good fit for a child perhaps they have a special need that going unmet. We should support a parents right to enroll their child in a highquality alternative. Its really pretty simple. Every child in america deserves to be in a safe environment that is free from discrimination. Every student in america dreams of developing his or her unique talents and gifts. Every parent in america dreams of a future when the children have access to schools with the rigor, challenges and safe environment that successfully prepare them for a brighter more hopeful tomorrow. Every teacher in america dreams of breaking free from standardization so they can deploy their unique creativity and innovate with their students our nations schools are filled with talented devoted professionals who successfully meet the needs of many children but even our best schools dont work for all. This isnt the all the teachers but a reality that all students are unique, learn differently and excel at their own pace. Students also face new challenges today. In particular our High School Graduates are having increasing difficulty accessing affordable Higher Education. Escalating tuition is students out of college and others are burdened with debt that will take years or even decades to pay off. There is no magic wand to make the debt go away but we do need to take action. It would be a mistake to shift the burden to struggling taxpayers without first addressing why tuition has gotten so high. For starters we need to embrace new pathways of learning. For too long a College Degree has been pushed as the only avenue for a better life. The old inexpensive brick and mortar and i. V. Model is not the only one that will lead to a prosperous future. Craftsmanship is not a fallback but a noble pursuit. Students should make informed choices about what type of education they want to pursue posthigh school and have access to highquality ogg shouldnt options. President elect trump is i agree we need to support all postsecondary avenues including trade and vocational schools and giving to colleges. Of course on every one of these issues congress will play a vital role. If confirmed i look forward to working with you to enact solutions that empower parents and students provide highquality options and spend tax dollars wisely. We will Work Together to ensure the every Student Succeeds act is implemented as congress intended with local communities freed from regulations from washington and i look forward to working with congress and all stakeholders to reauthorize the Higher Education act to meet the needs of todays College Students. The first hundreds of thousands of kids this year alone and ive worked with many dedicated teachers who strive every day to help students achieve, fulfill their potential and prepared them for the challenges they will face. For me its simple. I trust parents and believe in our children. We will now begin our round up five minutes questions. We will begin with senator enzi and then senator murray. Thank you for being willing to take on this kind of project. I happened to come from the lowest population state that has challenges and education. We have one or two students and its a little different situation than was envisioned with no child left behind. Its a Quality Counts 17 report and i am pleased that wyoming was ranked number seven out of the 50 states and in the area of financing education we were number one because of the Obama Administration fossil fuel and hardworking families that support is in the race. We have some special problems. Part of them are the submission of applications and some of the applicable reports have no bearing on what we are doing. And thats important when we have several aspects. Every Student Succeeds the provisions to prevent the secretary to reduce the departments workforce with the return of Educational Authority to the states and elimination of federal programs its important that workforce be reduced to ensure more educational funding is provided to the schools. Also, im troubled by the Government Accountability Office Report that was issued in my request that showed the cost projections for the Income Driven Repayment Program are tens of billions higher than the original estimates and those are based on data and accounting methods that are deeply flawed. As an accountant, i was appalled and then theres the career Technical Education that you mentioned and i appreciate your emphasis on the value of craftsmanship and technology. I just sold the movie hit and hg figures that introduced people to computers and the value of women in the workplace. The low population gives them so low amount of funding that it isnt worth doing it and that needs to change. One of the most important jobs that he will have of the every Student Succeeds act, can you talk about the plan to engage the frontier states and communities in that process . Thank you for that question. I enjoyed meeting in the office and hearing a little bit about the special needs of schools at the grizzly bear surrounding it. That is a unique need. Be particularly important to recognize the unique needs of the population that you have. The opportunity for more choices and options in the programs. The possibility is the course choices could be offered that there may not have been previously. And i would look forward to working with you and some of your other colleagues that face those challenges such as senator collins and senator murkowski and work with you to address the specific needs of the communities and populations face. I look forward to working with you. Thank you for the courtesy. Im going to go a little later. Im worried about Public Education and how youve been nominated to leave so my first question is yes or no that if s all i want is a yes or no. Do you believe the mission of the department should be to strengthen Public Education for all of our students . Yes i do. Can you commit you will not cut a single penny from Public Education . Thanks for that question. Not all schools are working for the students that are assigned to them and i am hopeful that we can Work Together to find a Common Ground in ways that we cannot solve those issues and empower parents in a way that is right for them. I take that as a way to not privatize the schools or cut money from education. I guess i wouldnt characterize it in that way. Is good, but that interest. President trump thinks he can have his family manage while in office. Do you think its okay for Family Members to profit off of companies that are impacted by the decisions he will make it confirmed . Know i do not. We know from press reports come in you and your family invested in the education industry that includes investments in so far the student Loan Refinancing company which is a chain of forprofit online Charter Schools. You told the committee he would sever the ties of family businessebusinesses is confirmeu also said he intended to return to the businesses owned by your family when you leave public service, so how is that different from the president s arrangement . Senator, first let me be very clear about any conflict. Where conflicts are identified, they will be resolved. I will not be conflict it, period. With respect to the specific ones, one of them is in the process of being divested. Theres Education Companies from now on. It will not be a part of our investing. How do you intend to convince the committee no entity will feel pressure to purchase, partner with nonprofit entities and should you be confirmed as secretary . Nobody will feel any pressure like that. The committee hasnt received the required paperwork from the office of government ethics and theyve told me they cannot provide assurance right now that your conflict of interest have been identified and resolved by the office. Part of the team that has been working hard on my behalf, the oge is working hard to get through my and other confirmation processes as well and im hopeful that we will get this resolved and to the point of solution we havent a chance to work on it or know if we have additional questions. What you commit to coming back to the committee once we have that to ask additional questions . We will follow up on that. If confirmed, i want to know if you believe that its appropriate for you and your family to continue to use the wealth to pressure the candidates to support your agenda. If i am confirmed as you know i will not be involved and engaged in political contributions, and my husband will not be either. Thank you, senator mary and senator isakson. I have a statement i would like to ask questions on regards to that statement. The Committee Established a task force on the regulation to identify 59 specific burdensome regulations to engage Public Education in primary Higher Education. The recommendations 12 are at the office of education and they can be validated and changed. The senators and myself introduced a bill to simplify the process. At the university of georgia in my state said this is a move forward getting our kids the best education they can get. Im aware of this Task Force Report and it sounds like the direction that is taken is very promising and if confirmed i look forward to working with you and the others that have been working on this to implement the things that are deemed appropriate. The secretary himself or herself has the authority to change meaning this wont be another government reform that goes on the shelf. Its easier for students to apply to college. I know that has been a very burdensome process in the application. They are unfolding the entire year length of it and i would look forward to working with y you. Such an important way. Let me just say i dont think we should make it any more difficult or necessary for students to further their education. Youve done a good job as the older number of investments and appreciate what youve done very much. That brings me to this point you were talking about are talkt privatizing schools and theut privatizing schools and the importance of Charter Schools and protecting the Public Education and she talked about her goal that weve shared with each other to work for every student in the country. We did it in georgia and how was taking faithbased education and private institutions to provide in the classrooms and teachers teach the curriculum in the program and today 61,000 go to kindergarten paid for by the state delivered by a variety of institutions and my point is if you are going to meet the challenges of Public Education today it has to be on the Resources Available to it or youll never get where you want to go. You can greatly expand the opportunity of education and to dgive it for using faithbased private institutions would you agree with that . It is an interesting approach georgia has taken and what florida has them as well. The act is implemented to take a look at some other successful programmers and i would look forward to working with the other agencies that are involved with some of the preschool fundings. If they use the money to help the kids be ready for kindergarten when they reach kindergarten. My time is up and i just want twanted to acknowledge in the testimony i appreciate your recognition to become the traditional student of the day not every kid that lives in a two parent household and we have to come up with every Program Necessary to train our kids to do the jobs in the 21st century in different ways all the time. Thank you, senator isakson. Senator sanders. There is a growing feeling in this country that we are moving towards what some would call an oligarch informed society of wealthy billionaires in the economic and political life. Would you be so kind as to tell us how much money your family has contributed to the party over the years . Thank you for that question. I was pleased to meet you in your office last week. I wish i could get that number. The number was 200 million. Is that in the ballpark . That is possible. I dont mean to be rude but do you think if you were not a multimillionaire if your family havent made hundreds of millions of dollars that he would be sitting here today . As a matter of fact, i do think there would be that possibility. To be a voice for students and to empower parents to make decisions primarily lowincome children. Students should make choices about the education they want to pursue. Every young person in the country regardless of the income does have that option. That is an interesting idea. Its great to consider and think about but we also have to consider the fact that there is nothing in life that is truly free. Right now we have proposals to lower tax breaks for billionaires while at the same time low income kids cant afford to go to college. Do you think that makes sense . If your question is how can we hop help college and educatie more affordable, my question is should we make the colleges and tuitions free so that every family in america regardless of their income would have the ability to have their kids get a Higher Education . I think we can Work Together and we can work hard on making sure Higher Education in some form is affordable for all young people that want to pursue it. It is a burden that is almost impossible. What are the proposals of making child care universal in the foreign power for working families do you have ideas on that and agree with that . If we talk about that i would look forward to working with y you. That china would have an opportunity for the education and the future they do provide universal very inexpensive childcare. I feel very strongly about the importance of young families having an opportunity for good child care for their children. How do we help somebody is making eight or 9 an hour at the time that we cant raise the minimum wage because of Republican Opposition to get quality child care they can afford. I would look forward to helping that mom to a club the education for their child or their children so that they can look forward to a bright and hopeful future thank you, senator sanders. Next youre going to senator hatch. The care that you have for education, the hard work that youve done. Let me just say i welcome you to the committe committee and it ia pleasure to be here to consider your nomination as the secretary and i appreciate your commitment to the expanding opportunities for all children. These values are not unique to you. Weve worked very hard to make sure the people in the positions are not just people that are stereotypical of education but those that might bring really new things to the forefront. I got my colleague hope my colld the same courtesy to you. I trust that you will not have the force particular policies on the state unlike some in education do. It is congress all intense and i also recognize that support for choice is not an attack on Public Education. My children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren attended Public Education as a reality, and i have to say theyve attended the schools and i believe that you share the commitment to receive a quality education regardless the type. I spend my service fighting to make equity. I believe that he would be an indispensable partner in this fight and i look forward to working with you on the priorities including increasing transparency and accountability and access to Higher Education including evidencebased reforms. Unlike others that may be interested in attacking your donations, i know you want to do right so i will stick to focusing on how we can Work Together on the sound policy. According to the confusion the department was using a different repayment rate. The success of the former students repaying their federal Student Loans. I believe that students have access to a wide variety of data in choosing a school just like they would choosing a car. Access to information would need to this when choosing an institution. Now do you support increasing the transparency of. Thank you for the question and the kind comments. But at over 1. 3 trillion right now but almost a thousand in the last eight years. Its a very serious issue and one which we all have to pay very close attention to. If confirmed i certainly would look forward to working with you and your colleagues on ways to get after this issue. I look forward to working with you and your colleagues should i be confirmed. I think that people make a great secretary. Thank you, senator hatch. I would be glad to put you on the record. [laughter] i wanted to start with a basic question what you agree with me that the problem, and that is an understatement, but the problem on College Campuses is a significant problem that we should take action on. Thank you for the question. I agree that in any form or any place is a problem and no disagreement. Second question, would you uphold and let me give you a little background here in 2011, the department of education issued guidance on title ix by this Current Administration. If confirmed by would look forward to working with you and your colleagues and understand the range of opinions and understand the issues from the Higher Ed Institutions that are charged with resolving fees and addressing them to find some resolutions. I agree with the guidance, so im just asking for a yes or no. It would be premature for me to do that today. This problem, to say that it is an epidemic is also an understatement. The centers for Disease Control told us one in five women are the victims of Sexual Assault on campus and at a lot of those that were in the one in five never had an opportunity or never report incidents. If you have good grades you might have an opportunity to go to college and if you go to college, the world is open to you and you can succeed. It had to b happened to be my bt passed into law we say to the colleges and universities you have to do more than you are doing. They have to be a part of the bystander education and a strategy and in addition to all kinds of transparency and requirements this is what the act did for women and victims i should say or victims of assault. Colleges and universities must provide clear statements regarding the procedures followed and they must do more than they have been doing when it comes to enforcement and in particular it says they indicate the rights to notify Law Enforcement should the victim choose to. The institution of the obligation to help the victim report the incident to Law Enforcement including getting a protective order among other things the school has to do so that is what the law is now based upon my bill. The fall of 2015 this went into effect across the country. There is an Organization Called the foundation for individual rights an in education. They support a bill that would totally change that and force the victim to go to Police Departments to report and they would change the standard of evidence. Would you commit as the secretary of education to maintain the standard of evidence as it is currently in the law . My heart has peaked on this issue. Ive sold in any form is never okay and i just want to be very clear on that. If confirmed, i look forward to understanding the past actions of the Current Situation and to ensure that the intent of the law is carried out in a way that recognizes both the rights of the victim as well as those the organization that has the position that is contrary to the law and to the spirit of what we try to do in that piece of legislation is a recipient of donations totaling about 25,000 over four years. I hope it isnt a conflict of interest but i would hope that he would make a definitive commitment as a nominee to enforce the law as it relates to a sold on College Campuses and i will send you more questions about it. Thank you senator casey. Senator paul. Thank you for your testimony. I grew up and went to Public School and got a great education. Big fan. My kids have come to Public Schools but theres also some that are not doing very well even the department of education says about half of them are not doing very well and half of the kids that are dropping out of our kids of color, so i commend you for your work to help kids get a better education. The status quo isnt really working. I traveled to a lot of schools and have been amazed. 100 of the kids are going to college 50, 40, maybe the contemporaries in the community, so there are great successes. Its like t look at the kids and look at the success and take a couple minutes to tell us about the things youve seen in michigan. Some of you have seen that excited you about the potential that all these kids have and we shouldnt leave them behind. Thanks for that opportunity. As a school i regularly visit the students there and come from a multitude of Different Countries in different languages and most of them are from lowincome circumstances and its amazing to see the transformation the students have going. The recipient will tell you very promptly that she had an Early Childhood in her Grade School Years and found a school that was going to work with her in the transformation was almost overnight. Shes the first in her family to have graduated high school and graduated college and shes going to get her masters in social work degree so she is a tremendous example of what can happen when you get an opportunity to go to the right school. Because of the opportunity she knew she would have a greater opportunity to succeed and thrive. So she has been the beneficiary of the tax scholarship in arizona and is in college and pursuing a Higher Education there. Those are two students and others many schools i see that are doing Amazing Things and actually trying new and innovative ways of approaching education for children. One of them i want to mention is a unique model in that it is student directed. They formed their own constitution and there is no teacher in the classroom it is just a coach or diet and the guy cannot answer questions, they can only pose a question back to the students. The results from this are simply amazing. And the school is proliferating pretty rapidly throughout the country so those are just a few examples i can give you dozens more. Putting a face on it and seeing that they are going to succeed is an amazing thing. For those that have a philosophic hatred watch the movie waiting for superman and see the mother of tears to get him to go to school and then the one that didnt. She got a full scholarship and i will never forget here we are. We like to talk to the media but they didnt want to talk to us. I wish you the best of luck. Thank you, senator. I am a member of the Party Chairman and booked at the beginning of the hearing. Charter schools are not the issue here. Minnesota is in the mainstream. There are 37 states in this country that constitutionally prohibit the use for religious schools, so it is a party in minnesota that is in the mainstream and not the witness or the chairman. Senator lieberman mentioned proficiency in the past. I had a roundtable with principles and he said we think of the test as autopsies and i knew exactly what he meant because what he was saying was if they take the test in late april they are lucky if they get them back in june and the teachers cannot use the results to inform their instruction so i thought in addition to the test a lot of taking a computer adaptive test that you get the results right away and adaptive so you can measure outside of grade level. This brings me to the issue of proficiency versus growth. I would like your views on the relative advantage of measuring the assessments were the measure of growth. Thank you, senator, for the question. I think if im understanding the question correctly i would also correlate to the mastery so that each student is measured accordingly to the advancement that they are making in each subject area. Thats gross, not proficiency. It isnt growth, the proficiency is an arbitrary standard. If they reached a third grade level for reading etc. If you talk about the debate between proficiency and growth. I was just asking to clarify. This is a subject that has been debated for years and ive advocated growth for every member of the committee knows because with proficiency, ignore the kids at the top who are not going to fall below proficiency and they ignore the kid at the bottom no matter what they do they never get to proficiency. Ive been an advocate of growth that it surprises me that you dont know this issue and this is a good reason to have more questions because this is an important subject on education and i think we are selling our kids short by not being able to have a debate and i didnt know of any rule about this everyone gets one question and then one other senator gets a question. I dont know where that comes from. It comes from the way that we treated presiden the president s nominees and the way we treated arnie duncan and the way that i was treated as the secretary. I think we are selling our kids short by not being able to ask followup questions. And i was kind of surprised. Well, i am not that surprised. You have a long history of supporting the causes including donating millions of dollars to the groups. The practice of trying to change someones orientation or her identity for example given over 10 million to focus on a family ifamilyand it organizations of s on its website that they can and do change their behavior and identity. Its widely discredited by every mainstream organization is needed medically and ethically appropriate and it has been shown to lead to depression, anxiety and a suicide particularly in the lgb t. Many of the leaders and founders oof conversion to ip including both religious ministries and Mental Health professionals have not renounced it but if she would fall apologies for their work and how humble it has been for the individuals involved. I would ask that this would be included in the record. Do you still believe in conversion therapy clacks ive never believed in that. First, let me say that i fully embrace the quality, and i believed in innate value of every single human being and all students com, no matter their ae should be able to attend the school and feel safe and be free of discrimination so lets start there. What we say your characterization of contribution i dont think accurately reflects those of my family. I would hope you wouldnt include other family in her is beyond my family. You said the student debt is increased by a thousand . 9080 . 980 . Its increased 118 . I would ask that you get your figures straight about the education policy, and thats why we want more questions because we want to know if this person we are not trusting to be the secretary of education, if she has the breadth and depth of knowledge we would expect from someone that has that important job. Thank you, senator. I have as many disagreements with the secretary as you do and we are treating this in the same way that we treated and that is what i would call the golden rule. I didnt hear one member of the committee asked to ask more questions and that is a very substantial question. Because you have a nominee in the republican party, and we are not going to treat the republican nominee differently than we treat the democratic nominee. We have had the same situation with both of the nominees. They had ten minute rounds and there is other precedent. Im trying to be fair by treating the same way we treated both as president obamas education nominees. We will go next to senator cassidy. We enjoye enjoyed a the meetn anticipation of this. I am really struck. Let me ask some questions do you support Public Education . Absolutely. Thats amazing. Someone think that you do not. Do you think that all children deserve to have the opportunity to receive quality education . Absolutely. Do you support the rights of all children regardless of time or race and this means a lot to me to have the option to choose a school that meets their childs needs . I commend you and your wife for the school that you started. I will tell you by the way, my son that is very bright and graduated from an Innercity School Public School and with honors a school in northeast and we were able to pay the tuition so she could have her needs addressed. Not all parents can pay the tuition. So regardless of the income cant get the childs needs addressed so thank you for doing that. Do you support the decisions affecting the education are best left to the states and locals to decide to allow them to tailor the education policies and programs that best meet the needs of the students . I do. Do you view the role of the secretary of the obligation to advance your personal education views and agenda . Not mine, personally. Im going to hopefully be able to advance the president elects and also the views of many parents nationally. As the secretary of education is it your intention to undermine the system . Not at all. Will you carry out the implementation in a way that reflects the letter and intent of the law . Do you intend to mandate or control any state or local School District or school on any Education Program that is preempted by the secretary and federal law on example being common core . No. Do you intend to control any state or local district or school to require the School Choice policies including private School Vouchers or scholarships . No. Lets clear that up for the record. 20 of us are dyslexic. Im told one out of four children reads substantially by fourth grade substantially below grade level. Thats important because weve learned to read and need to learread it tolearn and if you s an issue i am passionate about. As the secretary of education will you commit to working with me and others to find ways to promote better awareness and understanding of dyslexia and working with me and the committee to develop better education policies to ensure the dyslexic children and all students with differences have the resources that the needs . I would look forward to the opportunity, senator. What you commit to working with me and the committee develops policies that will ensure the screenings are universal for all students and to end sure any learning differences are delayed as the early and that the appropriate services are provided for students . I look forward to exploring that with you to see if that is a federal rule or if it is best left to the states, but i look forward to that opportunity. I have a couple more at the meeting is coming alon going alk you for your answers and i was healed back. Thank you mr. Chairman. To the other members of the committee i wish we had a second round of questions. I wish we had. I dont believe that you are precedent for this when you were the nominee youve been a governor, the president of the university. John king had been a school principal, the commissioner of education in the state of new york, arnie duncan ha had been e superintendent of the chicago Public Schools. Those were the experiences they brought in at their record intoe wellknown and established. Theres no wathere is no way inf time we will be able to elicit the level of background so i would ask some consideration be given to having additional questions and the tax returns be made available to the committee. I want to thank you for your willingness to serve and four being here and your passion. I agree with you and the Committee Members noticed that our Public School systems are not working for many of the kids particularly. I think it is utterly unacceptable and the fact we dont Pay Attention to it and we treat childrens like they are someone elses children i think that something of a generation has to pay for in the future. Every kid in the country should have access to a great Public School. I support the Parents Choices among the high quality schools into Charter Schools and i think it plays a Critical Role in education but the goal for me has never been School Choice. Its high quality Public Schools in every neighborhood. Theres no difference being pressebeingpressed to attend a l school than being given the chance. Thats no choice at all and its certainly not a meaningful one. In denver we need a different feel that said we will authorize the charters and create Innovation Schools have strengthened the traditional schools but without exception we demanded and implemented strong accountability. They followed the opposite path according to one analysis. There is so little accountability and the average 9 of the kids that are proficient i will stipulate that they are doing better but that is a horrible outcome for everybody involved. My question is not about whether we should or shouldnt have choice, we should have choice, but what you have programme leae last 20 years of this work that has changed your mind about what it is kids need in america in the 21st century. Senator, thank you for that question. First of all, i look forward to correcting the record regarding detroit and i think its important first of all to put detroit in the context. In 1950 there were 1. 8 million living in the city of detroit and today theres less than 700,675,000 grassley. Anyone with any means has basically left the city. When i asked about that you have been so involved with with michigan. You were referring specifically to the detroit schools and the reality today is eight out of ten students in detroit are living in poverty. Nobody accepts that the results in detroit overall are acceptable. There is room for a lot more improvement. More than half im not going to get a second round of questions. What have you learned about the failures of the Public Schools in the detroit Charter Schools but has informed your decisionmaking as the secretary of education, what went wrong thats going to go right in the cities in america as a result of your philosophy how we ought to move the country forward . I believe there is a lot that has gone right detroit and michigan with regards to the Charter Schools and the notion that there hasnt been accountability is just wrong if it is false news. The reality is that Charter Schools in michigan have been accountable to the bodies and the state. Why are there so many failing in michigan . 122 have been closed since they came into existence. The reality today is that the students attending charters close in detroit are getting three months on average more than their counterparts. The recent legislation that was passed brings all of the schools in detroit under accountability. Finally for the people of detroit, there is accountability across the board, and i am pleased and thankful that is the case. I would like to invite you to denver to the denver Public Schools i that he would be willg to come to see what we are working on. I think he will make a fine secretary of education. I would like to bring to your attention something we discussed in the office and we spent quite a good time talking about teachers and i think you started talking about them and it was encouraging to hear in the prepared remarks he said we are blessed beyond measure educators the poor themselves into the students. I shared with you ive come to appreciate how essential it is to prepare teachers who are empowered to do the best work in the atmosphere that is support supported. My wife, her family is full of teachers and a numbered of them are still teaching today in the lowincome town in indiana. I am always open to evidence from all comers but there is a study by a kinsey and company that examined the Education Systems all around the world try to figure out what works, what makes for an effective education and environment and it wasnt the amount of money spent. The cost to educate was 57,000 adjusting for inflation was 165,000 per student so we know right there that its not moneyy thats what they found is one of the most important factors was the quality of the teachers. We need to b to remove the barrs to the quality teaching. And an abl annable and equip tho the best work and someone that studied the issue extensively i would like to get your thoughts on how we might do that. I did enjoy the meeting in the office as well talking about some of these issues. I think first let me restate again a quality teacher cannot be overstated and i think that the opportunities are bound for and how burning and re empowering in a new way and unencumbered in them with a wealth of rules and regulations today that prohibit and inhibit creativity and innovation with their students. It doesnt change significantly in a century and a half and yet the world has changed significantly. This goes for teachers of all kinds of schools and all varieties and that is to empower them in a new way to do what they do best and i know in a couple of the states when Charter Schools were introduced, those that founded the Charter Schools wanted to express themselves in a different way and found a new opportunity to unleash from there on previously circumstances. In my remaining time here i would emphasize i spent the last four years in the house of representatives focused on trying to ascertain whether or not the social support programs that are targeted towards helping the poor, the vulnerab vulnerable, those that need a hand up in society, whether or not they are working. What i discovered is there arent 80 of these programs depending on how you count them and of those only 12 have ever been evaluated using the gold standard. We need to apply evidencebased approaches to the Education System and stare at the evidence and let it guide us accordingly hopefully in a bipartisan way. Do i have your assurance that you will operate in this fashion as a threshold issue for me . Absolutely. If confirmed, i would look forward to working with you on that. Thank you, chairman. Evening. Welcome to the committee. It is reputed that Sigmund Freud said there are times when a cigar is just a cigar into there are times when Charter Schools are just Charter Schools. And i think when that is the case everyone in the room supports them. There are times that its used as a wedge to attack Public Education. And the signals of that tend to be failing Charter Schools are protected compared to the failing Public Schools but the standards really are not there. We demand a lot as the Charter Schools succeeded very well. We are proud of them. But ive read e. G. A p. of char schools in michigan are run by forprofit entities and most of them perform below the state average suggesting that a failing Charter Schools automatically better than a Successful School in the view of this system and in rhode island we wouldnt want to see the system moved into rhode island or into a national level. Second, when the advocates fail to recognize as i believe was recognized that there are ongoing costs and responsibilities that a traditionathetraditional publict continue to shoulder even as the students leave with their funding for Charter Schools and that is a proposition now that the Investment Service has written about it and talked about the danger of a downward spiral because it adds the cost when you have to maintain the public traditional schooling at the Charter School until the system can adjust. Can you assure us that the desire is sincere and has the director you will steer away from efforts to deny the traditional Public Schools the funding that they need to manage the transition and he will make sure that the Charter Schools have to live up to their promise and you are not just going after the traditional Public Schools when they are failing . Let me begin by stating that my advocacy and my orientation is around parents and students and then choosing the right education for their children so when parents choose Charter Schools they are doing so because they think its a better spot for their children and you have my commitment that i will be an advocate for all grade squeezed the matter there for more version because they are the primary educator for their children. Do you understand when the parenttheparent makes that choie child moves to the Charter School and the funding moves with the child that leaves a funding gap that cant instantaneously or magically fill but that is a real problem . This is a good example best interesaddressed at the state ly each state and acknowledging that each state will have unique circumstances in that regard. It will be hard to address ad at the state level if they were a crusader for moving the kids to Charter Schools without any recognition of the legacy cost of the Public School system if it is your intention to create a downward spiral that is invoked by different state policies and that is where we need you as the secretary of education to recognize to keep in mind not only for Charter Schools and the parents going there but the traditional schools and parents staying there. Certainly i think as we spoke in your office i think that this is an issue and its probably unique to some states more than others, but again i will refer back to the implementation of the every Student Succeeds act and the opportunity to states have to address the unique challenges of their states. I will be a crusader for the parents and students and the quality of their education not for specific systems or specific arrangements of how the school was delivered. For ten years you served for the study of religion and liberty that calls Climate Change unfounded. Its repeatedly promoted even going so far as to represent the School District in pennsylvania over the lawsuit and adoption of the biology textbook including intelligent design. If the School Districts around the country try to teach students junk science will the department of education be with the students were try to force the science into the science programs . I think that its pretty clear the expectation is that science is taught in Public Schools, and i support the teaching especially the science that is allowing students to exercise Critical Thinking and discover and examined in new ways science is to be supported at all levels. I would have liked to make some inquiries and follow up on some of these answers which were directed towards the question but maybe not completely responsive to the question and ask about what t whether the pet program will go and rob them of their money and sets them loose. As i said, im very fond of you and the committee and i dont recall being told i could never have a second round in the hearing as a matter of principle before. Thank you, senator whitehouse. I am going to take my five minute ground now to the 56 round and talk about the law the president called a christmas miracle the committee produced on no child left behind act was passed in december, 2015. Under the Current Administration, the plans are the senator may have been the first person to suggest that. I should have known better. The department is on a path to save the states. Every state will have to get a new plan and get their federal money which is a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of the innovation to states have wanted the flexibility we have given them. The Current Administration is on a path to get the plans and we will approve them in the spring or in the summer and the uk and then implement the plan in the school year that began next ye year. If there is any confusion or question around transition, rest assure that it would be a high priority if confirmed for me to ensure the plan is adhered to and above all is implemented. Most are being circulated in the groups and if confirmed people will be looking for a signal to get the plan in the spring and summer and we will try to uproot or consider it in the next year we resolve them and we worked out some difficult issues and put. What is your attitude towards respecting the Authority Congress gives you into trying to implement the law in the way that its written rather than trying to legislate where you are, for example you believe very strongly in giving low income parents more choices in schools. If you try to write a regulation to implement that in the department of education even though congress couldnt join its . It would be my goal to implement the law and acknowledge it is your goal to write and pass the law intuitively the departments role to implement as intended. To adopt a particular School Choice plan. I would hope i could convince you all of the merit in the future legislation but certainly not any kind of mandate in the department. It basically said we can take the 24 billion of the federal dollars that we spend. Let it follow the students to the schools that the states chose to go to the private schools and religious schools or if you did that i think it could sort it would allow the states to make the decision and the parents to make the choice rather than giving in order to do School Choice. Including the private School Choice and now the 25 states which exist. I hope that we would get an additional opportunity to ask questions. I would like it to be not in writing but to give the exchange and the responses. With the concerns raised by the Ranking Member for the hearing prior to the office of the government ethics and plan for elimination of possible conflicts of interest. You have the questions already about the families and the indirect import forprofit Companies Including social finance and performance which i understand to be a Collection Agency that specializes in student debt collection. 1043 of the code allows you to deter Capital Gains taxes on the sale of assets divested in the way to comply with the ethics rules. To save hundreds of millions of dollars its why when i became aware of this i joined the senators on the committee as well as our colleagues senator feinstein and introducing the bill to close the loophole or limit the amount of Capital Gains that could be deferred to 1 million. Because we dont have the Financial Information yet from the government ethics, my question to you is our you planning on taking advantage of the tax loophole . Thank you for the question. Let me restate again i look forward to the ethics agreement finalization in the office of government ethics and committed to ensure we will go forward with no conflicts with regards to your specific question i do not intend to take advantage of that. Ive already made that conclusion and that decision and it probably would be useful to note i will only take a salary of 1 dollar so i could be official but i dont intend to take a salary either. Listening to the Opening Statement in exchange with senator franken related to the sizable donations to a number of antilgbt organizations in the advocacy for the discredited practice of conversion therapy i was heartened by your response. I would note the same organizations also have been hostile to the nondiscrimination production issues like adoption, marriage equality. Given the alarm parents have expressed about the donations to the organizations, i guess i want to ask i assume there are students and parents watching tonight. What would you say to them to ensure that you will use the position as the secretary to support students . Iam race equality and i firmly believe in the Intrinsic Value of each individual to have the assurance of the discrimination free place to become educated. But the comments to the contributions that you have referred to again and you may be confusing some other Family Members and those contributions and also looking at the contributions from 18 or 20 years ago. I want to refer to what i said about my approach. I cant imagine having a child that would feel discriminated against for any reason and i would want my child in a safe environment. I have many more questions i would like to respond. We have been fairly general given the restricted time about the issue of the charitable contributions if you will or to these advocacy organizations. If you feel there is a Family Member thats contributed and you are being identified in the public record, pleased in writing followup. Ive seen information quite to the contrary. Thank you for being responsive and informed and in my view, specific. We could have a time on that. Thank you for coming by my office and we had a nice visit. I had the opportunity to teach but at any rate, i know you understand the onesizefitsall Education System doesnt work and you just decided that in your testimony. I held a roundtable discussion with 12 College President s and business stakeholders to discuss the Higher Education given the fact we are going to attempt to pass the Higher Education bill. In particular, i heard from the leaders about the impact of google programs obviously the policies and more especially regulations on the institutions of Higher Education. During our meeting last month in my office i shared with you in information chart. These are 34 topics or areas of regulation. Some are very important. But the collective judgment was they were so intrusive and expensive and timeconsuming that they had to get an office of compliance just to look at the federal regulations and then they assigned Bad News Bears to tell all of them that make up the college which by the way has the highest enrollment of any college or university in kansas. The 34 areas of regulation that were impactful to the school indicated that it renders the institutions of the goal to educate them effective way and efficiently. So as you know, i think everybody and i think that would have an agreement on the other side of the dais. It is one of the key areas the committee will focus on as we work on the reauthorization of the act. Will you be a partner in addressing many of these timeconsuming regulations . I appreciate seeing the chart again. But yes i can commit to you i will work with you and the committee on the act and the regulations you have referred to and wanting to help free the institutions of Higher Learning to the greatest extent possible to do what they do best. Being an ombudsman for the education along with my fellow senator, its tough when you try to go directly to the person that is in charge of the department. I tried that before in the executive order to make sure every department has a cost benefit yardstick if you will. If the person in charge that were supposed to get back to me was in charge of war and peace and other things. Im going to recommend 80 you want to do with regionally. Wit regionally. We have had people from the areas its good to be terribly important that we get to somebody that can actually see the problem and report somebody else in your department. You cant do all this. I dont know anybody that cant but at least when we have a real problem saying heres the regulation it doesnt make sense. Can we at least address it maybe we can get rid of it or maybe we can do better so i hope that you can work out some kind of a sports team if h you will with regards to the regulations because that was the number one issue that i heard. Would you be allowed to answer those questions . Spirit im going to defer to the chairman. I think this is a shame. It suggests the committee is trying to protect the nominee from scrutiny and i would hope that we would reconsider. Your family has been an investor to get up 80 of the money from the federal or state taxpayers and it paid over 1 million in the first year it made millions and millions of dollars in profit. I could go through a long litany of examples people have made their fortune off the Public Education dollars. Do you support the individuals profiting from Public Education dollars but is essentially taking money away from students to pay salaries for ceos and return from investors . Are two t things, having access and having coverage. We have gone around that a few different times. Host president obamas legacy on the economy. We are joined by josh bivens, research and policy director at the Economic Policy institute, along with daniel griswold, at the mercatus