Bought and paid for
Since the election, Sen. Pat Toomey has voted for many items that are not good for the health of our area.
But the frosting on the cake came when he recently voted to approve the nomination of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education. DeVos has no qualifications for this position. She has zero experience with public education. She went to private schools, and her children attended private schools. She does not have any kind of education degree and has never taught or been an administrator in an educational setting. Her only experience with public education is she has been part of many organizations that promote using taxes to fund private school vouchers and education savings accounts.
Enrollment in Southwest Pennsylvania schools has been falling in recent years because of a decline in population and cyberschooling opportunities. Any other competition from publicly funded private schools will certainly affect the small local school districts adversely. With small student populations, educational opportunities suffer.
One of the things that has made America great over the years is the availability of free publicly funded education for everyone, no matter your social standing. Private schools benefit mostly the wealthy. I don’t want my tax dollars funding a private school.
DeVos’ other qualification is she and her husband have donated $2.8 million to Republican candidates. This tells me Toomey has been bought and paid for.
I contacted Toomey many times about this issue, expressing my dissatisfaction with the nominee. His phones were not answered and his message box was full, so I was forced to send an email message where I still got no response. So he is bought and paid for and he is not responsive to those who put him in office.
Gay Thistle
Waynesburg