No thanks to Sen. Susan Collins, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.

For the purpose of full disclosure, I am a Maine public school teacher, and I care deeply about the communities in which I live and teach. I watched the confirmation proceedings and contacted Collins’ offices relentlessly because I strongly feel that the strength of our communities is in peril with DeVos at the helm of the Department of Education.

Collins played her “moderate card,” as she nearly always does, in voting against DeVos’ nomination, but I believe DeVos skeptics have been fooled by our senator. In a Cabinet nomination process that has been so clearly divisive, Collins seemingly satisfied her liberal supporters by casting this “nay” vote, while paying no political price to her conservative base since this vote did no harm to the nominee’s confirmation.

People might ask what more could Collins have done beyond casting her vote. Collins is a senator esteemed in immense influence at the national level, and she easily could have lobbied one Senate colleague to vote against DeVos.

I am greatly skeptical of Sen. Collins’ intentions, but I urge her to prove me wrong. She should tell Mainers which senators she lobbied and with what response she was left.

I am a moderate who has twice voted for Sen. Collins, but I will not cross party lines to support her in the future. She has proved to me that my vote will be better spent on someone who more accurately reflects my vision for our state and our country.

Frederick Follansbee

Scarborough