DeVos On Mich. Schools: 'I Don't Know' If They've Gotten Better

President Trump's Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a Holland, Michigan native, got a lesson on Michigan schools during an interview broadcast Sunday night on CBS news program "60 Minutes."

And on Monday, the education secretary's responses – or, rather, lack of responses – raised eyebrows at the White House, according to a report by CNN.

DeVos, who has been a proponent of school choice and de-funding public schools, told reporter Lesley Stahl that public schools get better when school choice is introduced as an option for students. When questioned about Michigan school performances, where school choice has been introduced, DeVos responded: "I don't know. Overall, I can't say overall that they have all gotten better."

Stahl, though, that pointed out that the schools have not gotten better. And, in fact, actually gotten worse. And, Stahl took DeVos to task for her role in the decline of the public schools. Stahl responded to DeVos:

"Your argument that if you take funds away that the schools will get better, is not working in Michigan where you had a huge impact and influence over the direction of the school system here."

It also led to this interesting exchange over the overall quality of schools and DeVos's firsthand knowledge of how they look in her home state:

Lesley Stahl: "Have you seen the really bad schools? Maybe try to figure out what they're doing?"
Betsy DeVos: "I have not-- I have not-- I have not intentionally visited schools that are underperforming."

During the interview, DeVos also discusses the Parkland, Florida school shooting on Feb. 14 and how some students responded poorly to her visit to the school after the attack. She also discusses her critics and how she has become, as Stahl put it, "the most hated Cabinet secretary" in the Trump administration.

CNN reported on Monday that DeVos' inability to answer questions on school choice and a failure to defend the White House's proposed school safety measures alarmed others in the Trump administration. CNN cited two unnamed sources in its reporting.

DeVos has been a lightning rod of controversy for the Trump administration. She is the only cabinet member in history to need a vice president's tie-breaking vote to win Senate confirmation.

>>> Watch the full interview and read the "60 Minutes" story

File photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images