--- title: Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics description: Devos said the Department of Education "had to make some heavy decisions" canonical: https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/ author: Hillary Leung article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-27T07:48:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:09:11.084Z article:section: Politics og:title: Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics og:description: DeVos said the DOE "had to make some heavy decisions" og:url: https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7259f5903b4b8297/6989475b97cdff80256b7906/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics twitter:description: DeVos said the DOE "had to make some heavy decisions" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7259f5903b4b8297/6989475b97cdff80256b7906/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Hillary Leung](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Mar 27, 2019 7:48 AM UTC  Education Secretary Betsy DeVos takes part in a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington D.C. on Feb. 12, 2019. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos takes part in a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington D.C. on Feb. 12, 2019. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Hillary Leung](https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/) ## Hillary Leung Mar 27, 2019 7:48 AM UTC Education Secretary Betsy DeVos defended plans to slash funding for the Special Olympics during a testimony before a House subcommittee, saying the department “had to make some heavy decisions.” Devos appeared in front of lawmakers on Tuesday to review the Education Department’s [proposed budget](https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget20/summary/20summary.pdf) for the coming fiscal year. According to the budget made public on March 11, the department plans to eliminate 29 programs for an annual savings of $6.7 billion. Among the programs, Special Olympics will see $17.6 million slashed from its funding. When asked by Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan if she knew how many children would be affected by the cut, DeVos said she did not. “It’s 272,000 kids,” Pocan said. > [](https://twitter.com/repmarkpocan/status/1110604410592415745) In 2017, DeVos met with Special Olympics athletes, [tweeting after](https://twitter.com/BetsyDeVosED/status/831953695101296640) that it was “great to spend time with them.” Last year, the Education Secretary [donated](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/14/betsy-devos-salary-charities-347468) part of her salary to the Special Olympics, according to Politico. The proposed budget includes $500 million for opening and expanding public charter schools and their facilities, in accordance with the department’s outlined priority of increasing access to school choice. DeVos, a charter school advocate, said in her [prepared statement](https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP07/20190326/109135/HHRG-116-AP07-Wstate-DeVosB-20190326.pdf) that the budget has been set “so that families can find the best educational setting for their children.” DeVos’ comments during the testimony were met with condemnation online. > [](https://twitter.com/RashidaTlaib/status/1110648257187930115) > [](https://twitter.com/RepJeffries/status/1108934242623344641) DeVos was sworn in as Education Secretary in 2017 and [has since](http://time.com/5053007/betsy-devos-education-secretary-2017-controversies/) rolled back a number of Obama-era policies in favor of charter and magnet schools. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/"},"headline":"Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics","datePublished":"2019-03-27T07:48:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:09:11.084Z","description":"DeVos said the DOE \"had to make some heavy decisions\"","url":"https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/","keywords":["Education","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7259f5903b4b8297/6989475b97cdff80256b7906/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hillary Leung","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hillary-leung/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7259f5903b4b8297/6989475b97cdff80256b7906/betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"betsy-devos-education-secretary.jpg","caption":"Betsy DeVos in the White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/education/","name":"Education"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5559421/betsy-devos-special-olympics/","name":"Betsy DeVos Defends Slashing Funds for the Special Olympics"}}]}] ```