Before she took on Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes, and hostile members of Congress at an appropriations hearing, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was confronting state education leaders.
In early March, DeVos used her invitation to address the Council of Chief State School Officers to sharply criticize states' plans to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act for the first time. Her message was just the latest in a yearlong, (mostly) inside-the-Beltway debate about ESSA plans.
Democratic lawmakers publicly accuse DeVos of ignoring the law, while Republican leaders quietly put pressure on her behind the scenes to shape ESSA policy to their liking. Edu-pundits go back and forth in reports and blogs and on Twitter about whether the plans are good, bad, or ugly. Organizations representing states respond with their own public relations campaign, hashtag included, to defend states' work and ideas
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