President-elect Donald Trump’s Education Secretary nominee, Betsy DeVos, refused to oppose guns in schools during her Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 17 (video below).
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut asked DeVos, “Do you think that guns have any place in or around schools?” reports Vox.
“I think that’s best left to locals and states to decide,” Devos replied.
“If President Trump moves forward with his plan to ban gun-free school zones, will you support that proposal?” Murphy asked.
Murphy, who used to represent Newtown, the site of the worst school shooting in U.S. history, invited DeVos to come to Connecticut to talk “about the role of guns in schools.”
At another point in the hearing, Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia asked DeVos if schools that get federal money should have to obey the 1990 Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, reports Slate.
“I think that is a matter that is best left to the states,” DeVos told Kaine.
That answer was not lost on Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who reminded DeVos that the Individual with Disabilities in Education Act is a federal law.
Hassan asked DeVos if the states should decide to follow it, and DeVos said: “Federal law must be followed where federal law is in play,” and added that she may have confused it.
Betsy DeVos and Sen. Chris Murphy
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