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Why is the Secretary of Education trying to force public schools to reopen, without giving them money to do it safely? My take: If schools are open but unsafe, wealthy white families will pull their kids, and a nontrivial portion will choose for-profit online schools instead. 1/
The Secretary of Education has long been an advocate of online, for-profit schools. Her husband was also an early investor in online schools. 2/ https://www.the74million.org/article/betsy-devos-trumps-edsec-pick-promoted-virtual-schools-despite-dismal-results/
In the wake of COVID-19, the Secretary of Education has also offered money to parents who choose to either homeschool their children or send their children to online (for-profit) schools. 3/ https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/29/847783190/devos-to-use-coronavirus-relief-funds-for-home-schooling-microgrants
Affluent white families with stay-at-home moms are in the best position to be able to pull their kids out of public schools and either homeschool them or send them to (for-profit) virtual academies. That's what I'm finding in my current research with moms of young kids. 4/
Thus, if the government can pressure schools to open but withhold the money to do it safely, there's a good chance that the families who opt out will be affluent white families with stay-at-home parents (moms). 5/
But why would the Secretary want affluent white stay-at-home moms to pull their kids out of public schools? Well, they're the ones with the money to pay for online for-profit schools. And they're the one public schools rely on most to make ends meet. 6/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122420905793#:~:text=Avoiding%20Us%20versus%20Them%3A%20How,Rules%20%2D%20Jessica%20McCrory%20Calarco%2C%202020
So, if the end goal is to dismantle the public education system and encourage as many families as possible to opt for private or for-profit schools, then forcing public schools to open unsafely is a quick way to make that happen. And the schools will take all the blame. /
