Great Lakes Wire

An investigative watchdog group wants to look at communications between U.S. Education Department officials and third party groups regarding federal CARES Act grants.

The watchdog group, Checks & Balances Project (C&BP), alleges Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her staff members awarded millions of dollars in CARES Act funds that had been allocated for public schools in swing states to wealthy private schools instead for political gain. 

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel led a group of attorneys general who sued DeVos over the reallocation and a federal judge in California issued a preliminary injunction, noting that the states were likely to succeed in the case.

C&BP also sparked an investigation into whether DeVos violated the federal Hatch Act when she criticized former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, on Fox News. The Hatch Act prohibits U.S. government officials from using their positions for political purposes, C&BP said.

“This is not someone with a clean track record,” C&BP executive director Scott Peterson, told Great Lakes Wire. “There have been ethical, legal, and financial questions surrounding Secretary DeVos since the day she took office.”

In a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Department of Education, C&BP seeks “records reflecting interactions between education officials and various parties regarding the awarding and allocation of grants and other forms of funding authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act [“CARES Act”].”

That includes communications with Trump campaign officials, for-profit education companies, charter school trade associations, charter school owners/operators and their associated for-profit management organizations and religious schools and/or their relevant associations,” the request said.

The Department of Education on Oct. 15 acknowledged the FOIA request.

In her Fox News appearance, DeVos said Biden’s education policies would be “shameful” and that “he’s turned his face in favor of the teachers union,” C&BP reported on its website.

The Education Department later issued an email linking to the interview, and DeVos tweeted a link as well, C&BP said.

“C&BP is also probing potential tax avoidance maneuvers by DeVos and her husband who flag at least one domestically operated yacht in the Cayman Islands, a common tax dodge by wealthy yacht owners,” the watchdog group said.