COLLECTOR ELI BROAD URGES US SENATE TO BLOCK TRUMP’S NOMINATION FOR EDUCATION SECRETARY

Emma Brown reports in the Washington Post that art collector and philanthropist Eli Broad—whose name appears on his private museum, The Broad; the Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA; and the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University—has spoken out in opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos for federal education secretary. Broad, who is a notable supporter and funder of charter schools both in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the US, stated in a letter sent yesterday to US senators Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) and Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) that, “at the risk of stating the obvious, we must have a Secretary of Education who believes in public education and the need to keep public schools public . . . With Betsy DeVos at the helm of the US department of education, much of the good work that has been accomplished to improve public education for all of America’s children could be undone.”

The full text of the letter from Broad can be seen here.