The administration’s plans have been derided by critics as potentially devastating for traditional public schools, which would lose students and money. The choice plan has especially drawn the ire of congressional Democrats, as well as Republicans who represent rural areas where alternatives to local schools are limited and where voters favor improvements to local public schools.
Ms. DeVos likened the opposition to the school choice movement to that of taxi companies that opposed ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft.
“Just as the traditional taxi system revolted against ride sharing, so too does the education establishment feel threatened by the rise of school choice,” Ms. DeVos said. “In both cases, the entrenched status quo has resisted models that empower individuals.”
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers and a consistent critic of Ms. DeVos’s school choice ideology, took to Twitter to rebuke Ms. Devos’s ride-sharing analogy.
Is she equating kids to cab riders & teachers are drivers? Cab drivers are hard-working pros, but teachers have advanced degrees to teach
— Randi Weingarten (@rweingarten) March 29, 2017
“Is she equating kids to cab riders & teachers are drivers?” Ms. Weingarten asked in her post. “Cab drivers are hard-working pros, but teachers have advanced degrees to teach.”
Ms. Weingarten also pointed out that Uber “is in turmoil.”
