20,000 signatures reached
To: Congress
Tell Congress: Block DeVos from punishing schools that choose not to reopen!
Petition to Congress:
Local school districts should decide whether or not to reopen based on their own community public health data, not because Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is threatening to withhold funding for already cash-strapped schools. We demand Congress block DeVos from using federal school funding to pressure schools to reopen.
Why is this important?
The last person you want making decisions for your children is Betsy DeVos. As Trump’s Education Secretary, DeVos has been a disaster from Day 1. But during the pandemic she’s only gotten worse.
Secretary DeVos wants to hold federal school funding hostage to pressure schools to reopen in a couple of weeks, despite the nation still seeing spikes in COVID-19 cases.[1]
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to block DeVos from using federal funds to pressure schools to reopen!
Our nation’s schools are already massively underfunded. In a dangerous public health nightmare scenario like the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government should be funding schools to do whatever is necessary to protect students, teachers and staff, and slow the spread of the virus.
Instead, if DeVos has her way, schools will have to reopen if they want federal funding that most districts desperately need. In short, DeVos wants to force cities and states to "re-open" - and doesn't seem to care if children, teachers, and school staff get sick or even die in the process.
It’s worth remembering that DeVos has never once taught in a classroom, holds no degrees in education, and until Trump appointed her as Secretary of Education, had no government experience. DeVos is a right-wing billionaire donor whose pet project has been dismantling public education. Every year Trump has been in office, DeVos proposed massive budget cuts to the Department of Education.
Now she’s only willing to put funds into schools if students, teachers, and school staff risk their health and their lives in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic. There’s not much time left to act before schools start in the fall. That’s why you need to tell Congress to stop DeVos immediately.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to block DeVos from using federal funds to pressure schools to reopen!
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/trump-schools-reopening.html