LESSONS LEARNED

In early October, Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw) was nominated by President Trump as Assistant Secretary for Career, Technical and Adult Education under Education Secretary Betsy DeVos of Grand Rapids. Couple of problems. Kelly, who is the chair of Michigan’s House Education Reform Committee, not only approved a resolution to get rid of the state Board of Education, but has a blog where he’s written about things like putting all Muslims on a no-fly list; that money really shouldn’t be spent on women going into things like science or engineering – “Studies point to data that indicate men and women simply have different tastes when it comes to areas of study,” as if it was about choosing between steaks and sushi; and that Head Start is a waste of money. “Why should we continue to pay for this failure?” he wrote. Trump has pulled Kelly’s nomination, so he will just impact us Michiganders, at least until his final term ends in 2018. As for his opinions, Kelly said in May that he and DeVos both believe in universal choice, and the federal position would help some students avoid debt by having technical training instead of getting four-year college degrees. DeVos has had no comment.