May 13, 2019

Warren pledges to name a former public school teacher as education secretary

Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

2020 Democratic candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged Monday to name a former public school teacher as secretary of Education if elected president, blasting President Trump's pick Betsy DeVos as "the worst secretary of education we've seen."

"I’ll just be blunt: Betsy DeVos is the worst secretary of education we’ve seen. She and her team are up to their eyeballs in conflicts of interest. Instead of championing our students, they protect for-profit colleges that break the law and cheat them. ... Let's get a person with real teaching experience. A person who understands how low pay, tattered textbooks, and crumbling classrooms hurt students and educators. A person who understands the crushing burden of student debt..."

— Warren wrote to her supporters in an email

Why it matters: Warren's promise comes the same day she's meeting with teachers in Philadelphia for an American Federation of Teachers town hall. Warren is part of a lineup featuring a number of 2020 Democrats who are all vying for the organization's 1.7-million-member endorsement. DeVos, a charter school and school choice supporter, has been sharply criticized by some education special interest groups and pro-public school organizations.

Go deeper: Elizabeth Warren's $640 billion student debt proposal

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 721,584 — Total deaths: 33,958 — Total recoveries: 149,122.
U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 142,106 — Total deaths: 2,479 — Total recoveries: 2,686.
Federal government latest: President Trump says his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.
Public health updates: Fauci says 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from virus.
State updates: Louisiana governor says state is on track to exceed ventilator capacity by end of this week — Cuomo says Trump's mandatory quarantine comments "panicked" some people into fleeing New York
World updates: Italy on Sunday reports 756 new deaths, bringing its total 10,779. Spain reports almost 840 dead, another new daily record that bring its total to over 6,500.
What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk
Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

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World coronavirus updates: Cases surge past 720,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

There are now more than 720,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins. The virus has now killed more than 33,000 people — with Italy alone reporting over 10,000 deaths.

The big picture: Governments around the world have stepped up public health and economic measures to stop the spread of the virus and soften the financial impact. In the U.S., now the site of the largest outbreak in the world, President Trump said Sunday that his administration will extend its "15 Days to Slow the Spread" guidelines until April 30.

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President Trump is extending his administration's "15 days to slow the spread" shutdown guidelines for an additional month in the face of mounting coronavirus infections and deaths and pressure from public health officials and governors.

Driving the news: With the original 15-day period that was announced March 16 about to end, officials around the country had been bracing for a premature call to return to normalcy from a president who's been venting lately that the prescription for containing the virus could be worse than the impacts of the virus itself.

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