Betsy DeVos, who was favored among Republicans over D.C.'s Michelle Rhee, has been appointed by Donald Trump as the next secretary of education.
DeVos is easily one of the nation’s best-known proponents of school vouchers, also favored by the president-elect.
For more than 20 years, the Grand Rapids, Mich., businesswoman and onetime Republican state chairwoman has been in the forefront of making vouchers more available as an alternative to the public school system.
In 2000, she defied fellow several fellow Michigan Republicans (notably then-Gov. John Engler) to promote a statewide initiative to expand opportunities for vouchers throughout Michigan. With labor unions making a maximum effort to thwart the measure, it lost by a wide margin.
Undeterred, DeVos pursued expansion of vouchers by founding an organization called American Federation of Children. The AFC seeks, according to its mission statement, “to improve our nation’s K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families.”
Many conservatives in and out of D.C. made clear they would be far more comfortable with DeVos in the Cabinet than former Washington, D.C. schools head Michelle Rhee, and were relieved with Rhee’s decision to be removed from consideration. Rhee’s organization, Students First, has opposed voucher programs in certain states. Moreover, Rhee backs the controversial Common Core federal education program, which DeVos has derided.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax.