Betsy DeVos Is About to Throw English Language Learners Under the Bus

16Aug
by Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Despite denials that Betsy DeVile (that’s no a typo) is not going to scrub the Department of English Learners, many fear that she is trying to do so and will not seek congressional approval to do so. The theory is that DeVile is interested in consolidating the OELA (Office of English Language Acquisition) and merging it with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Advocates have the right to be concerned about a move like that. It would certainly send a strong message from Washington that English Learners are no longer a priority and that could trickle down into districts and wreak a whole lot of havoc that advocates and courts have spent years addressing and correcting. Civil rights groups have spent years fighting to make English learners  a priority. Betsy DeVile seems more interested in promoting her white nationalist and education minimalist agenda than anything else. Such a move would support that theory.

Let’s brace ourselves for this possibility. We can demand that local school boards pass resolutions not just denouncing such a move but also doubling down on their commitment to all students in their districts, especially English Language Learners.

What do you think?

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Leticia Chavez-Garcia

Leticia Chavez-Garcia is a Mother, Grandmother, former Middle School Teacher, former Member of a School Board of Education and an Education Advocate for hundreds of parents and students in the Inland Empire. Having become a mother at 15, Leticia knows what it’s like to be a single mother trying to navigate the education system. Leticia received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from California Baptist University and a Masters’ Degree in Education Technology from Cal State Fullerton in her 30’s. Leticia has used her knowledge and experience to help hundreds of families as an Education Advocate in the Inland Empire and currently works as an Education Specialist.

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