As the Democratic presidential candidates have increasingly made Education Secretary Betsy DeVos the symbol of incompetence and cronyism in the Trump administration, Sen. Cory Booker has been put on the defensive for his longstanding association with her, NBC News reported on Wednesday.
Booker’s ties with DeVos and the pro-school-choice organizations she has championed go back nearly two decades.
The alliance between them emerged as both became known nationally as backers of school choice and charter schools as alternatives to underperforming public schools, especially as Booker worked to improve the troubled Newark school system he inherited when he became mayor in 2006.
Last week Booker pushed back after being accused of diverting funding from public schools for charter schools and being called out for having served with DeVos on the board of directors of a school choice organization affiliated with her.
“I sat on a board with her with other Democrats looking for solutions, and I will never fault myself for trying to find solutions that work,” Booker said.
As a presidential candidate, Booker, has been critical of DeVos and voted against her nomination in the Senate in 2017.
Booker’s campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh pointed to that vote as proof that he opposes her policies and “the Trump administration's efforts to undermine public schools.”
Singh also said Booker’s efforts as mayor improved Newark’s schools and stressed that he has been endorsed in the past by New Jersey’s largest teachers' union.
During the presidential campaign, Booker has not regularly brought up charter schools, as other Democratic candidates have stressed the need to improve education by additional federal funding for public schools, including higher pay for teachers and expanded access to special education and early childhood programs.
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