Trump Chooses Betsy DeVos For Education Secretary

Injecting the first diversity into his Cabinet-to-be, Donald Trump selected two Republican women on Wednesday who had unflattering things to say about him during the presidential campaign: South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to serve as USA ambassador to the United Nations and charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to lead the Department of Education.

American billionaire and education reform advocate Betsy Devos has been named by President- elect Donald Trump as his Secretary for Education, who could also serve as the Christian voice in the administration.

Education groups that oppose charter schools quickly pounced on the DeVos selection, saying her plans would undercut public education.

“I am honoured to accept this responsibility to work with the President-elect on his vision to make American education great again”, DeVos said in a statement.

Trump said DeVos is “a brilliant and passionate education advocate”. “They have a long history of just helping kids who have nowhere else to turn”. Earlier we said he had chosen his former rival Ben Carson for secretary of housing and urban development. They fear that Trump, along with DeVos, will push “choice” programs that many see as draining resources from the traditional public school districts that educate most American schoolchildren. I mean – and Audie, this pick is really all about Trump advocating for school choice.

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. “I call on Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to block her nomination”.

The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, was quick to criticize Trump’s pick.

If he talked about education at all during the campaign, Audie, it was either to bash the Common Core State Standards or mention choice.

Her husband’s father Richard DeVos was ranked Number 88 on Forbes’ list of U.S. billionaires, with an estimated fortune of $5.4 billion.

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

The DeVos choice also appears to be a huge departure from the Trump campaign promise to “get rid of” common core. “The sum total of her involvement has been spending her family’s wealth in an effort to dismantle public education in MI”.

Donald Trump’s choice for his education secretary brings up big questions for Washington state.

“We understand that the foundation of public education is based on the ideal that our public schools serve every child that comes to our schoolhouse door”, he said.