NEW YORK, Nov. 23 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will appoint billionaire philanthropist and private school voucher advocate Betsy DeVos as his secretary of education.
DeVos is a conservative figure in Michigan and is Trump’s first cabinet selection of someone far outside his immediate circle of loyalists.
“The status quo in education is not acceptable,” DeVos said Wednesday, noting she was excited to help “make American education great again.”
DeVos met with both Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence at Trump’s golf course in Bedminster, N.J., over the weekend, presumably to discuss the post.
“Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate,” Trump said in a statement Wednesday. “Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families.”
DeVos, 58, has been a national advocate for the school choice movement — which includes allowing for charter schools and the use of vouchers to allow parents to select which schools, public or private, they want their children to attend. She was chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 2003 to 2005.
It wasn’t clear whether DeVos was Trump’s first choice as education secretary. On Tuesday, former Washington, D.C., school chancellor Michelle Rhee removed herself from the running.
DeVos’ appointment, like all other cabinet posts, must be confirmed by the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate.
