On Wednesday of this week, Yamhill County Democrats and concerned citizens gathered outside the McMinnville High School to protest a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Protesters displayed signs in support of publicly financed education and increased oversight of our schools and public universities.

The occasion for the Secretary’s visit are recent statistics demonstrating the success of MHS’s methods in Yamhill County. We should commend the educators and administrators at the school for their success, and make a commitment to fund our public schools, not advocate for their privatization!

Some 15% of charter schools are run by for-profit corporations, with limited accountability for the method of instruction. In the Secretary’s home state of Michigan, as of 2014, 80% of such schools were held by private, for-profit entities. Such school divert funding from our public schools and direct it toward schools answerable to shareholders, not taxpayers.

Thank you, Yamhill County, for advocating for public education!