U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, flanked by school officials at a private autism center in Denver, called on the nation’s public schools to work with parents to better serve students with special needs.
Minimum progress for students with disabilities, she said, “is preposterous. Our students deserve better.”
DeVos’s statement comes nearly six months after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that set a new — and higher — standard for how the nation’s public schools educate students with special needs.
DeVos spoke Wednesday after touring the Firefly Autism center as part of her first multi-state tour as education secretary. The tour aimed to highlight a mix of schools — district-run, charter, private — that were “rethinking” education.
“We must rethink what education means for every student,” she said. “Different students living in different places demand different solutions.”
The Denver-based autism center was chosen because of its role in the landmark Supreme Court case that involved a south suburban Denver family.
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the family. In doing so, the court raised the standard schools must meet to educate students with disabilities. However, the court stopped short of describing what that new standard should look like.
After her remarks in Denver, DeVos was scheduled to tour the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
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