Trump picks billionaire Betsy DeVos, school voucher advocate, as education secretary

“Name an organization-Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority, David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity, the arch-conservative Heritage Foundation-and odds are a DeVos family member has donated to it”.

President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated Betsy DeVos as education secretary, picking a prominent charter school advocate and Republican Party donor.

In one choice, Trump managed to abandon yet another campaign promise, while upsetting teachers unions and some of his most loyal right-wing supporters.

“Betsy DeVos is a awful choice for U.S. Secretary of Education, for our students, and for our nation’s public schools”, said Barbara Madeloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Trump on Wednesday announced his intention to appoint DeVos after former Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee stepped aside.

“If you’re going to use public, taxpayer money, you should be accountable to the public for those expenditures”, White said.

Anti-Common Core groups also expressed their dismay over the appointment due to DeVos’ close affiliation with Bush’s education foundation, which has promoted the controversial Common Core State Standards. “And she does seem to be a strong advocate for high standards and accountability for results”.

“Have organizations that I have been a part of supported Common Core?”

That process gives parents a check from the state and then they can go to a public, private, or religious school.

Haley, an outspoken Trump critic throughout much of the presidential race, would become his first female – and first minority – Cabinet-level official if confirmed by the Senate. Alexander led a recent bipartisan effort to pass the Every Student Succeeds Act, which shifted power to the states.

Joining guest host Ari Melber, Michael Moore made his case for why Betsy DeVos was a bad choice to lead the education department, even referencing her history with the “Amway” pyramid scam business.

And aside from choice and vouchers, Selleck worries about the Common Core curriculum’s fate with DeVos and Trump at the helm. She is not a Trump loyalist. Blackwater came under scrutiny after its guards shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007. Betsy DeVos, and her husband Dick have always been dedicated supporters of the right-to-life cause.

DeVis serves as the chair of the Windquest Group, an investment and management firm. They also received a $200,000 contribution from Gov. Pence’s war chest in August after he was named Trump’s running mate. Her four children also attended private, Christian schools, according to the education news site Chalkbeat.

The DeVos influence is one reason that Michigan’s charter sector is among the least regulated in the country.

In Michigan, without vouchers, nearly 23 percent of students use school choice.

Research on the impact of voucher programs shows mixed results. But other studies have found that voucher recipients are more likely to enroll in and complete college. “In Massachusetts, the best place in the country for education, an overwhelming majority of kids are in public schools”.

In selecting DeVos, Trump opted for a longtime supporter of charter schools and school voucher programs, two policies he promoted during the campaign.

But proponents say families should be allowed to choose where their children learn. “We’re not a factory model of society anymore”, DeVos said. He said the confirmation process would move ahead quickly after the new Congress comes in January 3.

DeVos campaigned for Trump’s rivals during the Republican primaries, backing Jeb Bush and later Marco Rubio and John Kasich.