7 Dem Senators Who Opposed DeVos Send Their Kids to Private Schools

At least seven of the 46 Democrats in the Senate who voted against Betsy DeVos for secretary of education send or have sent their children or grandchildren to private schools, according to The Daily Caller.

Critics of DeVos claimed she has no experience with public schools.

However, she was the architect of the charter school system in Michigan and is an advocate for allowing parents school choice. She also led the American Federation for Children, which favors school choice for poor and underprivileged families, the Caller reported.

According to The Daily Caller, the seven Democratic senators include:

• Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, who has two children at The Dalton School in New York, where a single year of tuition costs $44,640.
• Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren's granddaughter who attends the Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, where tuition is $35,900 yearly.
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island sent one daughter to the Wheeler School, where one year of tuition costs $35,215.
• New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand sends her two children to Capitol Hill Day School, where tuition is is $28,000 a year for preschoolers, and rises to $30,300 a year for sixth through eighth grades.
• Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut sent one of his four children to the all-boys Brunswick School, and a daughter to the all-girls Greenwich Academy, where tuition is $41,890, The Daily Caller notes.
• New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan's daughter went to Phillips Exeter Academy where husband Thomas was principal at the time. Tuition there is $37,875.
• Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania sent his daughters to Scranton Preparatory School, where tuition is low compared to other senators: $13,400 per year. Casey also attended the school.

During an interview with Townhall, DeVos commented on Jefferson Academy, a Washington, D.C. public school she visited on Feb. 10, saying:

"I can tell the attitude is more of a 'receive mode.' They're waiting to be told what to do, and that's not going to bring success to an individual child," she said.

The school responded, noting the work of several teachers and saying they are not "waiting to be told what to do," The Washington Post reports. 

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