Rep. Miller should focus on education standards here
State Rep. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, excoriated Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Education, in his Jan. 25 op-ed.
Two days after Miller’s column was published, the Washington Post reported that Mrs. DeVos, in a letter to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said that she understands that IDEA is a federal law that the Department of Education is responsible for enforcing and she also said that she believes that individual education programs – the blueprints that lay out each special education student’s learning goals, services and accommodations – must be made stronger and more effective.
If Rep. Miller is satisfied with the public education status quo, he does his constituents a disservice, considering all of the money it receives and our test scores are found wanting. What public education needs more is for those entrusted with it to have open minds.
Instead of nit-picking Mrs. DeVos’s appointment, we’d all be better served if Rep. Miller would tell us his plans for dealing with the proposed state budget deficit for the next fiscal year – an amount reputed to be $3 billion.
Ross A. Matlack Jr.
Dormont