Corrected: An earlier version of this story misidentified Julie Underwood. She is the former dean of the University of Wisconsin鈥檚 school of education and is currently a professor there.
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos鈥攁n ardent school choice supporter who has turned out to be among the Trump administration鈥檚 most polarizing cabinet picks鈥攚ill deliver a speech this week to members of a controversial organization that some argue is her best shot at advancing an aggressive school choice agenda.
The American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, is known for drafting conservative model legislation in states on a range of issues including gun rights, tax reform, and education. DeVos will appear at ALEC鈥檚 annual meeting Thursday in Denver.
Ask a conservative, and they鈥檙e likely to describe ALEC as a membership organization that brings together private industry leaders and Republican state lawmakers to draft soundly conservative policies. Ask a liberal, and they鈥檙e likely to say ALEC is a shadowy group of corporate types pushing a destructive, far-right agenda.
But regardless of political persuasion, there are two points most would agree on: ALEC is successful at influencing policy in statehouses, and its focus on private school choice dovetails perfectly with DeVos鈥� education priorities.
鈥淭here are lots of groups that do model legislation, but nobody as successfully as ALEC,鈥� said Gary Miron, a professor at Western Michigan University and a member of the left-leaning National Education Policy Center, which has also started writing its own model legislation.
Model Legislation
ALEC has crafted model legislation on education issues such as curbing tuition costs at state universities and performance-based pay for teachers, but a significant share of the bills it writes focus on school choice.
It has drafted bills calling for more regulatory freedom for home-schooling families and charter schools, and bills to create full-time online schools and open enrollment, which would allow students to attend any public school they want, even if it鈥檚 in another district.
Its model legislation for private school choice鈥斺�攊s a prominent part of its legislative portfolio for education. All three types of those choice programs provide public money to families or organizations to pay for private school tuition or other education expenses.
Education savings accounts, in particular, demonstrate how ALEC helps plant seeds for new policy ideas, said Michael Petrilli, the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a right-leaning think tank based in Washington.
鈥淵ou definitely see the [ESA] model legislation show up in the states, and even though it might get tweaked along the way, it鈥檚 often a starting point,鈥� Petrilli said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an important part of the sausage making. In fact, this meeting is in the summer, so I鈥檇 say this is where the sausage making starts.鈥�
Originally developed in Arizona by the Goldwater Institute, proposals for education savings accounts鈥攚hich allow families to spend state education dollars on approved expenses such as private school tuition, tutoring, or therapy鈥攁re popping up in a growing number of states. While bills to establish ESAs were introduced in 18 states this spring, only one passed鈥攊n North Carolina.
The Goldwater Institute, whose current education director co-chaired ALEC鈥檚 education task force committee for several years, helped draft ALEC鈥檚 model education savings account bill.
Other prominent school choice advocacy organizations that belong to ALEC, either as members or conference sponsors, are EdChoice and the American Federation for Children, a group Betsy DeVos helped found and used to chair.
Obvious Bedfellows
As part of a billionaire family whose background in education prior to joining the Trump administration was as a philanthropic booster of school choice, DeVos has been a controversial figure in Trump鈥檚 cabinet ever since she was plucked out of relative obscurity to lead the Education Department.
Predictably, DeVos鈥� decision to address ALEC members this week is drawing some criticism. But many of her appearances after being nominated as Education Secretary have.
鈥淢y concern about ALEC is that [it] takes the private corporation and gives them such incredible power,鈥� said Julie Underwood, a professor at the education school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the school鈥檚 former dean.
Underwood, who is a staunch critic of ALEC, pointed to the current co-chair of the group鈥檚 education committee鈥擳om Bolvin, who works for K12 Inc., the for-profit education company that has been under fire for poor performance of many of the online charter schools it operates.
Underwood said that by addressing ALEC鈥檚 members at its annual meeting, DeVos is legitimizing not only the policies that ALEC promotes, but the way it promotes them.
鈥淪he can use her bully pulpit to further their privatization agenda,鈥� Underwood said.
The head of one of the national teachers鈥� union had even harsher words.
鈥淏etsy DeVos and ALEC are joined at the hip,鈥� said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. 鈥淒eVos executed ALEC鈥檚 agenda when she was in Michigan and is now doing the same at the Education Department, working to defund and privatize public education.鈥�
Local Colorado media outlets have reported that protests over DeVos鈥� appearance and education agenda are planned.
But others argue that reaction is overblown. The Education Department has only a limited means to expand school choice programs, so DeVos will have to rely on allies at the state level to see her favored education policy grow. And ALEC is an important forum to forge and strengthen those partnerships.
鈥淚 totally understand that people will suggest that there is a problem, but I think that鈥檚 goofy,鈥� said Rick Hess, the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, and an opinion blogger on edweek.org. 鈥淚t was perfectly fine for [former U.S. secretaries of education Arne Duncan and John King Jr.] to speak to like-minded groups that were moving their same priorities, even on controversial policies like ... the way they thought about transgender guidance.鈥�
