Teachers union leader: We won’t work with Trump and DeVos because ‘I do not trust their motives’

By Valerie Strauss

July 3, 2017

The president of the country’s largest labor union, Lily Eskelsen García of the National Education Association, told delegates at her organization’s annual gathering that they would not work with the Trump administration because the president and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could not be trusted to do what is in the best interests of children.

Eskelsen García just addressed the 96th NEA Representative Assembly meeting in Boston, accusing President Trump of residing “at the dangerous intersection of arrogance and ignorance” and labeled DeVos as “the queen of for-profit privatization of public education.” She said in part:

Let me say this to all of you as clearly as I can, so that even if you disagree with me, you understand what is in my heart: I will not allow the National Education Association to be used by Donald Trump or Betsy DeVos. I do not trust their motives. I do not believe their alternative facts. I see no reason to assume they will do what is best for our students and their families. There will be no photo-op.

We will find common ground with many Republicans and many Democrats on many issues. We will not find common ground with an administration that is cruel and callous to our children and their families. And I don’t just judge them by their words; I judge them by their actions.

Neither the Education Department nor the White House responded to queries for a reaction to the speech.

It’s no surprise that Eskelsen García, who became president of the union in 2014, would attack Trump and DeVos. The NEA in January launched an effort to persuade enough senators not to confirm DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who has disparaged traditional public education, as Trump’s education secretary. At the time, Eskelsen García said:

“Betsy DeVos is not qualified, and even more than unqualified, Betsy DeVos is an actual danger to students — especially our most vulnerable students. She has made a career trying to destroy neighborhood public schools, the very cornerstone of what’s made our nation so strong.”

DeVos, as controversial as any of Trump’s Cabinet picks, was confirmed by the Senate only after Mike Pence became the first vice president in history to break a tie for a Cabinet secretary.