Jill Biden promises if Biden’s elected ‘no more Betsy DeVos’

Former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and his wife Jill Biden tore into Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Wednesday as she pushes for a reopening of schools this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Joe believes that the best policies don’t come from politics, they come from classrooms and educators. And that’s where his plan comes from. And it’s what I like to call educator-approved. And the first thing he’s going to do is pick a secretary of Education, who is a public school educator and has experience in the classroom,” Jill Biden said at a fundraiser. “I mean I hear that, again and again and again — no more Betsy DeVos.” 

“Four years of Betsy DeVos is more than enough. We need a Secretary of Education who is actually a public school educator,” the former vice president added in a tweet. 

Four years of Betsy DeVos is more than enough. We need a Secretary of Education who is actually a public school educator.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 9, 2020

The criticism comes as DeVos and President Trump launch a full-court press to pressure public schools to reopen in the fall despite concerns that doing so could exacerbate the coronavirus pandemic. 

“Ultimately, it’s not a matter of if schools should reopen, it’s simply a matter of how,” DeVos said Wednesday. “They must fully open, and they must be fully operational.”

Trump also threatened to cut funding to schools that don’t fully reopen this fall and lambasted  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools.”

“While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things,” he said Wednesday.

Vice President Pence later said the CDC would issue additional guidance next week on reopening schools to offer “more clarity.”

However, health experts have warned that reopening schools and other businesses too quickly would worsen an already deteriorating situation, as several states see spikes in coronavirus cases after effectively leveling off past increases.

“You don’t want to be risking the health of the children or their families, but you’ve got to follow the guidelines depending upon the level and the penetrance of infection in the community,” Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said Tuesday.

The Bidens have frequently criticized DeVos throughout the former vice president’s 2020 campaign, noting her vocal support for sending funding to private schools, among other issues. Joe Biden has already promised to nominate an educator as his Education secretary should he win the election.