DES MOINES, IOWA (January 27, 2023) — The American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten gave the following statement to Fox Business:
“Parents and families, no matter where they live, want safe, well-funded public schools, not schemes to funnel tax-payers’ money to the wealthy few. The Governor of Iowa is risking real political damage by doing the bidding of Betsy DeVos. After her mid-terms failure in Michigan, DeVos has leaned on the Iowa legislature to ram through a reckless spending spree opposed by conservatives and liberals alike.
“This program will syphon close to $1 billion in public money into private hands, while leaving communities holding the bag. Eighty percent of voters back improvement in public schools over privatization. It seems that the donors who wrote this bill support school choice, except if that choice is the one favored by most American parents — their neighborhood public school.”
In response, Governor Kim Reynolds released the following statement:
“Randi Weingarten is wrong about this, just like she was wrong about locking our kids out of the classroom during the pandemic — leading to widespread learning loss and setting back our kids for decades. Education is not a zero-sum game. And shame on Weingarten for thinking that political outcomes are what matters here. In Iowa, we’re funding students over systems and putting kids first. If the teacher’s union started thinking that way, families would be better off. With Weingarten at the helm, I know that will never happen.”
