Under questioning, Ms. DeVos said it would be “premature” to say whether she would continue the Obama administration’s policy requiring uniform reporting standards for sexual assaults on college campuses. Mr. Alexander, himself a former education secretary, argued that Ms. DeVos’s support of charter schools and vouchers put her in the “mainstream” of public opinion, and that her critics were outside it. Democrats, however, argued that Ms. DeVos’s support went well beyond charter schools, to include the more contentious policy of sending public money to private and religious schools. “Charter schools are not the issue here,” said Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, where Democrats pushed the nation’s first law allowing charter schools nearly three decades ago. One Republican, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, expressed concern about Ms. DeVos’s enthusiasm for school choice — a moot point for many of her constituents, given the vastness of her state.

Source: New York Times January 18, 2017 01:53 UTC