Ed week is reporting that few people with a good policy grasp of education want to work for Betsy DeVos
Some Republican education policy experts including those who have worked in past GOP administrations, for GOP education leaders on Capitol Hill, or in states are reticent to jump into jobs in President Donald Trump's Education Department.
Why could that be?
These observers, who declined to speak for attribution given the sensitivity of the subject, worry that the administration has yet to find its organizational footing, citing reports of a chaotic governing process at the White House. Others aren't sure they want to put in long hours for a secretary with a narrow area of focus who is already facing serious backlash among educators. And a few fear DeVos may not stick around long.
One person who the Trump team had reached out to said of DeVos. "She doesn't have a vision" beyond vouchers, the Republican said. "I don't want to go in not knowing what the full vision is."
Not having a clear vision beyond dismantling public education isn't the only concern potential hires have
"There's a lot of anxiety around what this administration is going to bring, and some people may think it's pretty risky to go into these roles ... There's a lot of speculation about how long DeVos is going to last. Potential staff may question whether it's worth the risk, whether taking a job for this secretary could cause collateral damage to reputations and future opportunities in education."
That seems pretty clear. Anyone who went to work for someone as unqualified as DeVos, and with an agenda as toxic as hers is looking at career suicide.
So who is getting hired? No one particulate qualified to deal with education policy it would seem.
the initial group of policy staffers—that has been circulated to civil servants at the department is heavy on folks whose background is primarily in politics or communications, including more than a half-dozen Trump campaign staffers, state GOP party staffers, and Washington, D.C.-based communications professionals.
Is there a collective noun for a large group of bumbling know-nothings?
