Dear Sen. Toomey,

Your constituents have spoken. We've spoken so voluminously and so loudly that we've been unable to reach you by phone or fax. Today, I am dismayed at your written response, in which you relay that you will support Mrs. DeVos despite the flooding of opposition to her from your constituents.In your letter, you refer to schools like the one I work at as "subpar" schools. I challenge you to question what about them is subpar - the teachers and staff who work on average 50-plus hours a week? Who spend their weekends planning lessons and spending money from their own paychecks for classroom supplies? The students who lack access and power, yet continue to show up in the hopes that education is the key? The parents of those students who work to provide a better life for their children? If we are subpar, it is because the people who we have elected, the people who make the laws, largely ignore our schools and our children. Your decision to support Mrs. DeVos will only further marginalize our students and deteriorate our schools.Mrs. Devos' reliance on charter schools and vouchers will further widen the opportunity gap that already exists for poor and working class students, students of color, and students with disabilities. While Mrs. DeVos boasts of vouchers and claims to "work on behalf of all children," students with disabilities often must give up their legal and civil rights under IDEA in order to use such vouchers. Furthermore, the cost of funding education and transportation for voucher recipients will fall on the public school in which that student resides. This serves to further burden our poorest districts by pulling away even more money and resources from our most marginalized students.And speaking of those students, how will you and Mrs. DeVos decide who most deserves those vouchers? Must they apply? What are the qualifications? Will there be a waitlist? How will you decide who is most deserving? And what do we plan to do with those students deemed undeserving? Those left to attend the "subpar" schools, as you call them. Because the students left behind in this plan will be those children who already most lack access, power and privilege. And those are the students that your constituents will continue to fight for and represent, as you have chosen to ignore us.Sincerely,Regina ClarkSpecial Education Teacher