Michigan’s Betsy DeVos New Education Secretary

Well it took longer than it needed to and up against powerful forces Michigan’s own Betsy DeVos was confirmed to head the United States Department of Education.

It took a historic tie breaking vote by Vice-President Mike Pence to confirm Betsy DeVos, but she was confirmed 51 to 50.  Two Republican Senators, Lisa Murkowski, of Alaska, and Susan Collins, of Maine voted against the nomination of Ms. DeVos, that is why it took a tie-breaking vote by our Vice-President.  It is interesting to note that those two Republican Senators are among the very few Republicans who received campaign contributions from the teacher unions.

Why were all the Democrat Senators against the nomination of Betsy DeVos?  The answer is easy, she is a leading advocate of education reform and school choice for decades.

The U.S. Department of Education it an agency that controls $70 billion in federal school funds and employs 4,400 people.

Ms. DeVos is the chairman of the American Federation for Children, a school-choice advocacy group that has advanced school reforms and charter school expansion in states and cities across the country.  Ms. DeVos and her husband founded a charter school in 2011. The Michigan Aviation Academy has since become one of the best schools in the state, becoming one of just 93 Michigan schools to earn a Silver Medal from the US News & World Report’s high school rankings. It was rated the 69th best school in the state, which had about 900 public and charter schools in the 2015-2016 school year.

I thought Charter schools did not perform well.

Good luck Ms. DeVos you have a herculean task in front of you.

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