Despite focus on education, Scott Walker and Tony Evers to miss meeting with Betsy DeVos

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker won't be meeting with the highest-ranking education official in U.S. government when she visits Wisconsin Tuesday — at a time when Walker is making a case to voters that he's an "education governor."

And state Superintendent Tony Evers, who oversees all 421 school districts in Wisconsin and runs the state's education agency, is avoiding meeting with U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos when she visits a middle school in Adams on Tuesday.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.

Walker will be out of state with the Republican Governors Association, a spokesman said Monday, while Evers chose not to attend the event "to keep the politics away from this visit and not to distract the school's good work," his spokesman said.

Walker and Evers are missing the public event with DeVos as the two gear up for a potential matchup later this fall should Evers prevail as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in an Aug. 14 primary election.

DeVos, first lady Tonette Walker, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and representatives from the Federal Commission on School Safety will visit Adams-Friendship Middle School in central Wisconsin to discuss how the school addresses mental health and behavior issues. DeVos also will visit the Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton.

Evers said in an interview the Department of Public Instruction, which he oversees, helped connect the federal leaders with the Adams-Friendship School District because of the success the district has had with addressing mental health and behavior issues, but didn't want his race against Walker to overshadow the recognition.

"The last thing I wanted to do was take away from the recognition that (the schools) well deserve," Evers said in an interview. "I thought it would become politicized and I don’t want to do that."

Walker's spokeswoman Amy Hasenberg said Walker is pleased Wisconsin is receiving "so much recognition from federal leaders."

"School safety and school mental health services are top priorities, and our $100 million School Safety Plan makes Wisconsin one of the top states in the nation in terms of per capita investment," Hasenberg said, referring to legislation passed earlier this year that provides schools with money to upgrade security measures.

There are few cabinet secretaries more controversial than DeVos, who has been a fierce and longstanding proponent for providing children with non-public school options like charter schools and private schools through the use of school vouchers. Typically, the nation's top education bureaucrat has focused on public school work in their careers.

DeVos has also had significant influence on politics and education in Wisconsin before she was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the federal education agency.

Since 2003, DeVos and her husband Dick have personally donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Wisconsin Republicans.

And the American Federation for Children, a pro-school voucher group which DeVos helped found and lead, spent more than $6 million in Wisconsin in favor of Republican elected officials since 2010, according to the liberal-leaning Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks campaign spending. AFC has its roots in Milwaukee, where its former iteration encouraged families to take advantage of the voucher program there during its earliest years in the 1990s.

Should Walker's third term depend on whether Evers can defeat him, the issue of education will be center to the debate.

The differences between Walker's and Evers' records on education issues reflect reasons why DeVos is controversial. Public school advocates and officials, like Evers, see DeVos as a potential threat to funding for public schools. While supporters of school choice, like Walker, feel emboldened by having an advocate overseeing how federal education funding is distributed for the first time.

Evers has worked in or with public schools since he began his career. He's been elected three times to lead the state's education agency and has been backed by liberal teachers unions each time. Teachers unions have been some of DeVos' chief critics since she was confirmed as secretary.

Walker has been a long-time advocate for private school vouchers, which have significantly expanded since he took office in 2011, and has significant support from DeVos. In 2017, he wrote a letter encouraging her confirmation as Secretary of Education.

"It is a moral imperative that every child has access to a great education. But it is also an economic imperative as we need to ensure our future generations are successful," Walker wrote. "Secretary designee DeVos believes in promoting competition by giving parents and students the opportunity to choose the schools of their choice, enhancing our nation’s education system."

But now, Walker is focusing on public schools and their supporters — proposing hundreds of millions of dollars in new funding for schools in his current budget, releasing three TV ads showcasing public school teachers and schools, and repeatedly calling himself "the education governor" on Twitter and in interviews.

Walker released his ninth TV ad Tuesday, which features the Three Lakes School District in northern Wisconsin.

Evers released his own digital ad on "false labels," pushing back on Walker's focus on education in his campaign for a third term.

Evers, Democrats and teachers unions reject Walker's self-proclaimed title of "education governor," in part because of his ties to DeVos.

"I’m an eighth grade social studies teacher who has a long career dedicated to students. It’s unbelievable that Betsy DeVos, who has dedicated her life to dismantling public schools, would show up in Wisconsin for a photo op," Ron Martin, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said in a phone call with reporters.

But supporters of private school vouchers and charter schools say political leaders should be happy the U.S. Department of Education wants to hear from Wisconsin school leaders.

"Creating additional school options is not the same as dismantling public schools," C.J. Szafir, executive vice president of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty legal group, added. "Wisconsin has high performing schools across all sectors – traditional public, public charter, and private schools. And when that happens, the parents and children are the ultimate winners."