'This Building Has Caused More Problems Than It Solved': Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on schooling during COVID-19, the future of higher ed, and why her cabinet department probably shouldn't exist at all.

BETSY DEVOS BECAME President Donald Trump's education secretary on February 7, 2017, following Vice President Mike Pence's vote to break a Senate deadlock--an inauspicious first for a Cabinet-level confirmation. Furious opposition to her nomination came from the nation's teachers unions: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called DeVos an "ideological" opponent of public education.

But DeVos' tenure has shown that she's an ideological opponent, not of public education, but of public education managed by federal bureaucrats. And she includes herself in that.

"I would not be at all unhappy to work myself out of a job," she says.

A former chair of the Michigan Republican Party, DeVos was known as an advocate for vouchers, charter schools, and more educational options for parents well before President Trump offered her the nation's top ed job. These issues became even more relevant in 2020, after the Coronavirus pandemic forced schools to close or go virtual, leaving millions of families in the lurch. With teachers unions all over the country fighting on behalf of their members to stop schools from reopening, many parents might be feeling ideologically opposed to the K-12 status quo as well.

While school choice is DeVos' signature issue, her tenure as secretary will probably be best remembered for implementing significant changes to Title IX, the federal statute that prohibits sexual harassment and discrimination in education. During the Obama years, heavy-handed guidance in the form of a "Dear Colleague" letter from the federal Office for Civil Rights caused colleges to abandon norms of due process in sexual misconduct hearings. DeVos spent two years writing a new rule that would restore basic fairness to these procedures. It formally took effect on August 14.

Much like DeVos herself, the new rules are a lightning rod--and deeply unpopular with a host of policy makers and advocates who say the secretary is callously making college campuses less safe for women. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has accused DeVos of "silencing survivors." The activist group Know Your IX predicted that sexual violence would increase as a result of the administration's actions.

In August, Reason's Robby Soave interviewed the secretary in her offices at the Department of Education in D.C--a building that "has done more harm than good," according to DeVos. "I view this department as one that probably never should have been stood up," she says.

Reason: COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis. So many school districts have to make difficult choices. But at the same time, many experts think it's really important for kids to have in-person learning. Here in Washington, D.C, they're not going to reopen schools until at least November. What should schools be prioritizing as they make decisions on whether to reopen?

DeVos: I think they should be prioritizing getting kids back to school in person. The data suggest that in most places across the country, it's perfectly safe to do so, and in fact, they should do so. Arguably, it's more unsafe for the kids not to be in school by multiple measures, whether it's mental health, social-emotional growth, academic growth. We know for a fact that there are places where children are being harmed because they're either left alone or they're with someone who is harming them. The notion that getting back to school--we all say when it's safe--but it's been elusive to find out from some people what they deem safe.

It would be one thing if we knew the disease would be completely eradicated by January 1--maybe you would just say, "OK, no school this semester." But it's never magically going away.

And kids are only 5-year-olds once, or 8-year-olds. You miss those months or that time period, you can't ever get that back. That's a significant part of the kid's life.

Can virtual learning ever work for kids of that age? Can you teach a child to read or to do basic arithmetic through a screen?

There are kids...