The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Capitol Bureau Chief Rick Pluta says “Absent some cataclysmic turn of events” Betsy DeVos’ nomination as Secretary of Education won’t be derailed. But he says her confirmation hearings represent a debate over education policy.
Pluta says both sides are gearing up for a debate. But he says it’s not a debate about whether she will get the job. Pluta says DeVos’ supporters want her to take the job and be able to enact her agenda. Opponents want to make that agenda as untenable as possible and make it more difficult in terms of public support.
Experience in Michigan
Betsy DeVos and her family have long been proponents of expanding school choice, including charter schools. Pluta says “Team DeVos” will argue that Michigan is better off with the expansion of charter schools. But he says they will also say Michigan isn’t the best measure, because it does not allow vouchers to private or religious schools. The DeVos family backed a ballot measure to repeal that language from the state Constitution. Voters rejected it in 2000.
Pluta says the other side will point out that based on test scores, charter schools have not been much, if any better, than traditional public schools. And that charters don’t have to take all of the students that public schools have to educate, due to factors such as special education and transportation.
State of the State Address
A few hours after Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing in Washington D.C. Governor Rick Snyder will deliver his State of the State Address in Lansing. Pluta says this year’s address will have a different tone than last year. Half of last year’s State of the State speech was devoted to the Flint water crisis, and Snyder apologized to the people of that city. Pluta says Flint will come up, but he says the governor will also focus on infrastructure, which includes Flint and a massive sink hole in Macomb County.
Snyder has long argued for more investment in infrastructure. Pluta says the debate over infrastructure in Michigan always runs into trouble when it comes to finding the money.
Other issues
Recent revenue estimates contained some good news in the short-term. Pluta says Snyder may have to quell some tax cut fever in the Legislature. The governor’s budget director has said the long-term projections don’t favor big tax cuts. Pluta says it’s possible that teacher retirement health care and public employee retirement health care may come up. And he says Snyder could mention auto insurance rates. Pluta says that has been a target for many years, and is a priority of the new House Speaker Tom Leonard. But Pluta says while Michigan’s system is unique, it remains very popular.
