Betsy DeVos has no control over the teachers unions or the NEA - both of which are typically controlled by Demonrats, especially in California.
The states have the primary role in what the curriculum is - the feds can suggest but not require compliance in this area. (simple answer)
In California, the CTA is a major cash cow for political campaigns through the CTA PAC. As of 2018 teachers aren't legally required to be part of a union to keep their jobs.
Stop what you're doing and watch this.
Rep. Jim Jordan absolutely obliterates the Obama/Biden administration who spied on @realDonaldTrump's incoming administration. pic.twitter.com/SbPfJ3AImJ— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 28, 2020
BRUTAL! Jim Jordan Opens AG Barr Hearing with DEVASTATING VIDEO on Leftist Violence, Looting and Rioting in the Streets of America (VIDEO) https://t.co/mV0s6KeccV via @gatewaypundit— Jim Hoft (@gatewaypundit) July 28, 2020
Some may remember the “Wisconsin Union War” about 10 years ago after Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled state legislature passed Act One, which made union membership optimal rather than mandatory, by stopping the automatic deduction of union dues. Despite the fact that public unions originated in Wisconsin and that teachers unions are the most resilient of all, union membership dropped like a rock as soon as teachers had the right to choose whether to belong or not. It literally took a war, with “peaceful protesters” occuping the capital building (and crapping in the hallways) for weeks, but in the end even teachers did not fall into lockstep with the union once they had the choice. WEAC, the WI teachers union, was forced to sell the fancy headquarters building it had built as a monument to itself. This article and others from that time might be of interest:
Hmmm, thats disappointing. So what power/control does she have over anything that goes on in a classroom?
I watched waiting for Superman years ago and learned even more about the teachers unions than I had already known. Tragic