Donald Trump picks wealthy activist for education secretary

“Connecticut needs a clear school funding formula, a system for dramatically improving outcomes in our lowest performing districts. and a means of ensuring all students meet grade-level expectations”. Advocates for such choice now see in the Trump administration an extraordinary opportunity to advance their cause on a national scale, whereas teachers unions and many Democrats fear an unprecedented and catastrophic attack on public schools, which they see as one of the nation’s bedrock civic institutions.

But his choice of wealthy activist Betsy DeVos, a champion of alternatives to local government schools, as education secretary, was another victory for social conservatives. Edwards opposes vouchers philosophically but has been outmatched by school choice supporters in the Legislature and BESE. In the past, she has supported the Common Core education standards that Trump denounced as he campaigned.

DeVos, 58, has not said much about the Common Core, the set of math and reading guidelines adopted by most states.

“Betsy DeVos has spent millions of dollars working to dismantle and destroy public education in MI and across the country”, said Bieber, in part. “[T] hat’s what good philanthropy is about, and Betsy is a good philanthropist”. Then again, Trump has threatened to get rid of the Department of Education altogether.

Betsy DeVos becomes the second woman chosen to fill a spot in Trump’s Cabinet.

In response, Mr Trump had called her “very weak on illegal immigration” and said people in SC were “embarrassed” by her. DeVos’ brother is the infamous Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, the private military company whose contractors were responsible for the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in 2007, among other incidents.

Her husband is heir to the Amway fortune, with a wealth estimated by Forbes at $5.1bn (£4.1bn).

DeVis serves as the chair of the Windquest Group, an investment and management firm. They have also been very active in Orlando.

Hecker also worries DeVos would want to over-test children.

DeVos has been an advocate for vouchers and school choice, Waxenberg said, “but nothing of real substance involved in the improvement of public education”.

DeVos, a former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman, leads the American Federation for Children, which along with its state-affiliated PACs contributed to 121 races in 12 states in the general election to support pro-school choice candidates, according to its website.

The DeVos family has pumped millions of dollars into the American Federation for Children (AFC) over the past several years, with much of it finding its way to IN – a state that has been one of the leading battlegrounds IN the school reform movement.

Even in Louisiana, the vast majority of children – more than 650,000 – attended a traditional public school past year.

“She will support vouchers and support charters”, says Mary Bouwense, president of the Grand Rapids Teachers Association.

Research on the impact of voucher programs shows mixed results.

“I think every school should be quality and we should we working on making public schools quality for every student, not a select few”, Boston said.

Reykdal said the states face this uncertainty about the U.S. Department of Education as they write accountability plans under the federal law that replaced No Child Left Behind.

A leader in the national school reform movement for more than two decades, DeVos has been a highly successful education advocate, businesswoman and philanthropist.

Richard DeVos’ family bought the franchise in 1991, and DeVos was, for a short time, the team’s president.

Governor Haley has little foreign policy experience, yet Mr Trump praised her as “a proven dealmaker”.