Following the vitriolic confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the U.S. Secretary of Education, Cheryl Kirk, a mother of three children in the Indiana school choice program, took to the web to write an open letter to Senator Al Franken about his opposition to school choice for families like her own. In Kirk’s eyes, it seemed quite elitist for Franken to send his own children to Dalton School, an elite private academy, while telling her family that they should be content with D or F rated public schools.
In her frustration, Ms. Kirk went on to tell Franken:
“I assume you realize that the fancy Dalton School you are used to isn't really what school is like for regular Americans like me. I certainly hope you realize that.”
Like Ms. Kirk, one would think that Senator Franken would realize this. But what if he doesn’t?
That thought actually might be a greater possibility than we realize. Is it possible that politicians like Franken are opposed to allowing parents to send their children to better schools because they haven’t had much exposure to what’s happening in the public schools?
With this thought in mind, I decided to investigate how many current Senate members graduated from a private school. The chart below lists this information in order by state. After removing the Senators for whom no school information was available, one ends up with 10 out of 46 Republican Senators who graduated from a private high school and 15 out of 45 Democrat Senators who did the same. All told, such numbers indicate that 27 percent of the 2017-2018 Senate enjoyed private education.
By comparison, only 10 percent of the U.S. student population attends private school. That means that U.S. Senators are 270 percent more likely to have had a private education than the general population.
Is it possible that such a disparity has caused the ruling class to be oblivious to the type of education the nation’s schools actually provide?
Alabama
Luther Strange
R
Public
Alabama
Richard Shelby
R
Public
Alaska
Dan Sullivan
R
Private
Alaska
Lisa Murkowski
R
Private
Arizona
Jeff Flake
R
Public
Arizona
John McCain
R
Private
Arkansas
Tom Cotton
R
Public
Arkansas
John Boozman
R
Public
California
Dianne Feinstein
D
Private
California
Kamala Harris
D
Public
Colorado
Michael Bennet
D
Private
Colorado
Cory Gardner
R
Public
Connecticut
Chris Murphy
D
Public
Connecticut
Richard Blumenthal
D
Private
Delaware
Tom Carper
D
Public
Delaware
Chris Coons
D
Private
Florida
Bill Nelson
D
Public
Florida
Marco Rubio
R
Public
Georgia
David Perdue
R
Public
Georgia
Johnny Isakson
R
n/a
Hawaii
Mazie Hirono
D
Public
Hawaii
Brian Schatz
D
Private
Idaho
Jim Risch
R
Private
Idaho
Mike Crapo
R
Public
Illinois
Dick Durbin
D
Private
Illinois
Tammy Duckworth
D
Public
Indiana
Joe Donnelly
D
n/a
Indiana
Todd Young
R
Public
Iowa
Joni Ernst
R
Public
Iowa
Chuck Grassley
R
Public
Kansas
Pat Roberts
R
Public
Kansas
Jerry Moran
R
Public
Kentucky
Mitch McConnell
R
Public
Kentucky
Rand Paul
R
Public
Louisiana
Bill Cassidy
R
Public
Louisiana
John Neely Kennedy
R
Public
Maine
Angus King
I (Caucus with D)
Public
Maine
Susan Collins
R
Public
Maryland
Ben Cardin
D
Public
Maryland
Chris Van Hollen
D
Private
Massachusetts
Elizabeth Warren
D
Public
Massachusetts
Ed Markey
D
Private
Michigan
Debbie Stabenow
D
Public
Michigan
Gary Peters
D
Public
Minnesota
Amy Klobuchar
D
Public
Minnesota
Al Franken
D
Private
Mississippi
Roger Wicker
R
Public
Mississippi
Thad Cochran
R
Public
Missouri
Claire McCaskill
D
Public
Missouri
Roy Blunt
R
n/a
Montana
Jon Tester
D
Public
Montana
Steve Daines
R
Public
Nebraska
Deb Fischer
R
Public
Nebraska
Ben Sasse
R
Public
Nevada
Catherine Cortez Masto
D
n/a
Nevada
Dean Heller
R
Public
New Hampshire
Jeanne Shaheen
D
Public
New Hampshire
Maggie Hassan
D
Public
New Jersey
Bob Menendez
D
Public
New Jersey
Cory Booker
D
Public
New Mexico
Martin Heinrich
D
Public
New Mexico
Tom Udall
D
Public
New York
Kirsten Gillibrand
D
Private
New York
Chuck Schumer
D
Public
North Carolina
Thom Tillis
R
n/a
North Carolina
Richard Burr
R
Public
North Dakota
Heidi Heitkamp
D
Public
North Dakota
John Hoeven
R
n/a
Ohio
Sherrod Brown
D
Public
Ohio
Rob Portman
R
Private
Oklahoma
Jim Inhofe
R
Public
Oklahoma
James Lankford
R
Public
Oregon
Jeff Merkley
D
Public
Oregon
Ron Wyden
D
Public
Pennsylvania
Bob Casey Jr.
D
Private
Pennsylvania
Pat Toomey
R
Private
Rhode Island
Sheldon Whitehouse
D
Private
Rhode Island
Jack Reed
D
Private
South Carolina
Lindsey Graham
R
Public
South Carolina
Tim Scott
R
Public
South Dakota
Mike Rounds
R
n/a
South Dakota
John Thune
R
Public
Tennessee
Bob Corker
R
Public
Tennessee
Lamar Alexander
R
Public
Texas
Ted Cruz
R
Private
Texas
John Corny
R
Private
Utah
Orrin Hatch
R
Public
Utah
Mike Lee
R
n/a
Vermont
Patrick Leahy
D
Private
Vermont
Bernie Sanders
I (Caucus with D)
Public
Virginia
Tim Kaine
D
Private
Virginia
Mark Warner
D
Public
Washington
Maria Cantwell
D
Public
Washington
Patty Murray
D
n/a
West Virginia
Joe Manchin
D
Public
West Virginia
Shelley Moore Capito
R
Private
Wisconsin
Tammy Baldwin
D
Public
Wisconsin
Ron Johnson
R
Public
Wyoming
John Barrasso
R
Private
Wyoming
Mike Enzi
R
Public
Image Credit: Jamie Howren, Library of Congress. Picture of former Senator Paul Simon and current Senator Al Franken.