President-elect Trump has selected Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education. Assuming she gets confirmed by the Senate next year, here are a few things to know about the next secretary of education.
Who?
DeVos may not be as well known as some of the other people that were on Trump’s short list, like Michelle Rhee or (at one point) Ben Carson, but she’s well known in education policy circles. DeVos chairs the American Federation for Children, a group that advocates for private school choice programs like education savings accounts, opportunity scholarships and tax-credit scholarships.
DeVos also never formally endorsed Trump’s campaign after supporting Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. In March, she told me, “I don’t think Donald Trump represents the Republican Party.” During another interview at the Republican National Convention, she said “I’m continuing to watch and listen and observe,” seemingly in hopes Trump would start talking more about school choice (he did). Members of her family did eventually donate a combined $245,000 to the Trump campaign.
DeVos hails from Michigan, where she served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000 and again for the 2004 election cycle. DeVos’ husband, Dick, ran unsuccessfully for governor of Michigan in 2006.
DeVos is also chair of the Windquest Group, a private investment firm. The DeVos family is estimated to be worth more than $5 billion.
School Choice
Of course, teachers’ unions are no fans of the pick. Though they probably wouldn’t have been fans of anyone on Trump’s shortlist. The National Education Association says DeVos “consistently pushed a corporate agenda to privatize, de-professionalize and impose cookie-cutter solutions.”
Still, there’s not too much that can be done to expand school choice at the federal level. Most (though not all) school choice supporters lean conservative or libertarian. As a result, school choice supporters generally argue that, per the Constitution, education should be a state and local issue.
Still, the federal government could expand the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program, or even turn it into a more flexible education savings account program. The feds could also make their small (about 10 percent) portion of education funding portable, allowing funding to follow students to any public school they choose, or perhaps any public or private school. Congress could also pass Sen. John McCain’s bill to give Native American students education savings accounts, and the feds can stop frivolous enforcement actions that try to make it impossible for states and local governments to run school choice programs.
Of course, the president and the secretary of education can use their megaphone to advocate for school choice programs at the state and local level.
Common Core
It’s not 100 percent clear what she thinks about Common Core, but it might not matter. Some associate DeVos with Common Core supporters. Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush, a notorious Common Core supporter at the state level, issued a glowing statement about DeVos when the pick was announced. “I cannot think of more effective and passionate change agent to press for a new education vision, one in which students, rather than adults and bureaucracies, become the priority in our nation’s classrooms,” Bush said. American Principles Project, a conservative opponent of Common Core, said in a statement Wednesday morning that DeVos is the “wrong choice” for secretary of education. “Betsy DeVos would be a very Jeb-like pick, and the idea that Trump would appoint a Common Core apologist as Secretary of Education seems unlikely.”
DeVos explained her position in no uncertain terms Wednesday, saying “I am not a [Common Core] supporter—period.” Although she’s been part of organizations that do support the standards, she says “it got turned into a federalized boondoggle.”
Regardless, after the Every Student Succeeds Act became law in December 2015, the secretary of education pretty much has their hands tied when it comes to academic standards. “No officer or employee of the federal government, including the secretary, shall attempt to influence, condition, incentivize or coerce state adoption of the Common Core state standards or any other academic standards common to a significant number of states or assessments tied to such standards,” the law says.
Regardless of what the president or the secretary of education wants, there’s not much the federal government can do to kill Common Core if states want to use it.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
