The leaders of two of the largest and most influential teachers unions in the country decried the confirmation of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
After a historic confirmation battle in which she became the first cabinet secretary confirmed by a vice president's tie-breaking vote Randi Weingarten, president of the AFL-CIO affiliated American Federation of Teachers, lashed out at DeVos in a press release.
"DeVos shows an antipathy for public schools; a full-throttled embrace of private, for-profit alternatives; and a lack of basic understanding of what children need to succeed in school," she said. "But it’s more likely we’ll now hear the same trashing of public schools that the disrupters, the privatizers, and the austerity hawks have used for the last two decades. That makes this a sad day for children."
The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country, also denounced the 51-50 vote to install DeVos at the Department of Education. NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said that the union will continue to battle DeVos with the ferocity it summoned during the confirmation battle, saying that recent events marked "only the beginning of the resistance."
"We are going to watch what Betsy DeVos does. And we are going to hold her accountable for the actions and decisions she makes on behalf of the more than 50 million students in our nation’s public schools," she said.
Education Secretary DeVos addressed the "animosity" of her nomination in her first speech to department employees on Wednesday. She called the 2016 race a "bruising, divisive election" and attempted to reassure department workers that she did not resemble the caricature that Democratic and union opponents advanced during her confirmation battle.
"This confirmation process and the drama it engendered has been a bit of a bear," she said. "I am here to serve with you. I'm committed to working with everyone and anyone from every corner of the country, from every walk of life, from every background and with those who supported my nomination and those who did not to protect, strengthen and create new world class education opportunities for America's students."
DeVos acknowledged that education reform has been a hot button issue in states and municipalities across the country. She has been a longtime champion of charter schools and school vouchers opposed by established education institutions, particularly teachers unions. She urged for unity and tolerance of all views in developing national education policy.
"The rhetoric and the words can get hot and heated and the animosity often seems unending. That's okay too. People are passionate and moved by deeply held views," she said. "All of us here can help bring unity by personally committing to being more open to and patient toward views different than our own. A key to our nation's future is [present] in the DNA of the Department of Education."
Wednesday was her first day at the department, which oversees a $70 billion budget and has 4,400 employees.