[Mary Larson] 
I have a SERIOUS issue with her ignorance of the need for a strong, well-financed public school system. If, as some statistics indicate, over 95% of children are in the US public school system, it's patently absurd to tout, finance, and favor the small, unregulated, and often narrow-minded charter schools. The carrot leading that horse is the word CHOICE, but the charter schools all too often are still (not always) havens for those who have comfortable lifestyles, and not all children can choose to attend them. A couple of well-financed charter schools within a large city full of public schools will not be able to work the wonders DeVos relishes. If those schools are ill run (some charter schools have failed, and a number of others cannot withstand scrutiny) and particularly if they fail to teach high level science and mathematics classes, they will not produce graduates capable of doing well in any high-ranking university. Not all, but a considerable number of charter schools are continuations of the private schools started in the sixties to avoid integration, or are havens for religious biases. If only all parents would come together to support and encourage the public educational system, if teaching professionals were paid excellent salaries that would make their profession a viable choice for men and women, if school conditions and supplies were equitable across the board, and if the profession were respected as it deserves to be, we would not have the problems we have today. People like DeVos, without a sensitivity to the needs of all children, but possessing a strong bias in favor of a system that hurts so many, are extraordinarily harmful to the development of this country. Its children are indeed The Future, and the DeVos charter system, given as it is to very narrow parameters and unregulated governance, puts our future at high risk.
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