Education Secretary Betsy DeVos last month told lawmakers at a congressional hearing that states and local communities were better equipped than the federal government to deal with issues of regulation, drawing condemnations and negative headlines. In front of a Senate subcommittee last week, she had noticeably changed her tune, telling senators repeatedly that any school receiving federal funding is required to follow federal law.
That assurance came with a pretty big caveat, however. Pressed by Democrats on how she would protect the rights of LGBT students, DeVos said in areas where the law is “unsettled,” which she said included issues of bias against gay people, her department would not be “issuing decrees.”
