Donald Trump's education secretary on Thursday said her successor's policies were 'as far left as they come', as she accused the Biden administration of promoting divisive and dangerous ideas.
The Biden administration promoted a handbook urging teachers to 'disrupt Whiteness and other forms of oppression' in their Department of Education guidance on reopening schools, it has been revealed. They said it was an error: Betsy DeVos disagreed
Betsy DeVos spoke after the White House was forced to admit an 'error' by promoting a group that pushes teachers to 'disrupt Whiteness and oppression' in a Department of Education handbook.
DeVos said she was convinced it was not an error, and was rather a deliberate attempt to politicize the Department of Education.
'This notion that it was a mistake is an absolute falsehood,' she said.
'Having been there at the department for four years and working through the approval processes for anything that is put out from the department, I know full well that there were eyes on and full knowledge of this going on.
'We saw earlier this year, the grant process the department put out that basically was trying to bribe schools into using the 1619 Project in their materials,' she added.
'So this is just another reflection of the true nature of the Biden Department of Education. It's just preposterous.'
Betsy DeVos appeared on Fox News on Thursday to discuss the new handbook
She added: 'This Department of Education under the Biden administration is about as far left as you can imagine.'
She said parents should 'continue to raise their voices' and not give in to the officials from teaching unions.
'This ideology is insidious everywhere, and there is a lot of momentum behind it.'
Earlier on Thursday Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, appeared to distance Biden from the group that produced the booklet even further.
'The specific site does not endorse - does not represent - the administration's view, and we don't endorse the recommendations of this group,' Psaki said, adding that the controversial mention has 'been removed or in the process of being removed.'
Psaki said the federal government does not 'dictate or recommend specific curriculum decisions' in schools, a decision she maintained was up to state and local governments.
'We believe the American people trust teachers to make those decisions, not the government,' the press secretary said.
Press Secretary Jen Psaki distanced the White House from the Abolitionist Teaching Network's controversial ideals on Thursday, but minimized the group's impact on the overall document as a 'citation in a report of which there are a thousand citations'
However, she minimized the radical group's impact on the document, categorizing it as a 'citation in a report of which there are a thousand citations.'
The handbook released earlier this week linked to the Abolitionist Teaching Network's 'Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning' in a section describing how schools are a 'microcosm of society' and conversations essential to 'race and emotional learning' should be 'anchor tenets' in schools.
As the administration attempts to distance itself, a new report uncovered
