Betsy DeVos: Leader In The Fight ‘To Expand Education Opportunities For Children’

A Reformer’ With ‘A Long Commitment To Improving Education Who Is Unafraid To Challenge The Status Quo’

President-elect Donald Trump and his choice
for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos

SENATE HELP COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN): “Betsy DeVos is an excellent choice. The Senate’s education committee will move swiftly in January to consider her nomination. Betsy has worked for years to improve educational opportunities for all children. As secretary, she will be able to implement the new law fixing No Child Left Behind just as Congress wrote it, reversing the trend to a national school board and restoring to states, governors, school boards, teachers, and parents greater responsibility for improving education in their local communities.” (Sen. Alexander, Press Release, 11/23/2016)

FORMER SECRETARY OF EDUCATION MARGARET SPELLINGS: “She’s been an education-reform warrior and has put her money where her mouth is, literally and figuratively, for a very long time.” (“What Does Betsy DeVos Have in Mind for Higher Ed?,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 11/23/2016)

Governors: ‘A Bold Reformer,’ DeVos ‘Is Smart, Dynamic, No Nonsense And Committed’
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY (R-MA): “[Betsy DeVos’] key qualification is that she cares deeply about our children and will do everything in her power to offer them a brighter future. She founded two of the nation’s leading education reform organizations and helped open the door to charter schools in her home state of Michigan. I have known her for many years; she is smart, dynamic, no nonsense and committed. That’s why the education establishment is so animated to stop her.” (Mitt Romney, Op-Ed, “Trump Has Made A Smart Choice For Education Secretary,” The Washington Post, 1/06/2017)

• “[I]t’s important to have someone who will challenge the conventional wisdom and the status quo. . . [R]ecent studies show that choice and competition are having a positive impact on kids’ learning in [Michigan]. A recent analysis by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies found that students in Detroit charters are performing better than their counterparts in traditional public schools in every subject tested by the state’s annual assessment. Meanwhile, recent studies by Stanford University found children in Detroit charters showing stronger academic improvement, gaining an extra two months’ learning in math and reading per year, as compared with the typical public school student in the city.” (Mitt Romney, Op-Ed, “Trump Has Made A Smart Choice For Education Secretary,” The Washington Post, 1/06/2017)
• “I am truly excited that someone of Betsy DeVos’s capability, dedication and absence of financial bias is willing to take an honest and open look at our schools. The decades of applying the same old bromides must come to an end. The education establishment and its defenders will understandably squeal, but the interests of our children must finally prevail.” (Mitt Romney, Op-Ed, “Trump Has Made A Smart Choice For Education Secretary,” The Washington Post, 1/06/2017)

FORMER GOV. JEB BUSH (R-FL): “Betsy DeVos is an outstanding pick for Secretary of Education. She has a long and distinguished history championing the right of all parents to choose schools that best ensure their children’s success. Her allegiance is to families, particularly those struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder . . . 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.” (Jeb Bush, Facebook, 11/23/2016)

GOV. SUSANA MARTINEZ (R-NM): “As we usher in a new presidential administration, it's more important than ever that our next secretary of education is a bold reformer who is focused on putting our children first. That's why Betsy DeVos is the right person for the job.” (Susana Martinez, Op-Ed, “DeVos Has Opportunity To Improve Education For All Children,” Investor’s Business Daily, 1/04/2017)

• “She has extensive experience and an unquestionable commitment to our children. For nearly three decades, she has been on the front lines in dozens of state capitals, working with parents to promote school choice and accountability in the classroom. As our secretary of education, she's going to continue that fight. She understands that when you give parents more say in their children's education, it produces better results. After all, parents know what's best for their kids — unlike Washington bureaucrats who craft one-size-fits-all policies that only backfire on our students.” (Susana Martinez, Op-Ed, “DeVos Has Opportunity To Improve Education For All Children,” Investor’s Business Daily, 1/04/2017)

Michigan Officials: ‘Betsy DeVos Is The Right Person … Because She Will Put Children First’
MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL BILL SCHUETTE: “She will bring a fresh perspective, a new set of eyes and a reformer’s bent to her new job as Secretary of Education. . . Betsy DeVos is the right person at the right time in history . . . because she will put children first, and make decisions based on what is right for the student. There’s not a moment to lose.” (Bill Schuette, Op-Ed, “DeVos Right Choice For U.S. Education Secretary,” Detroit Free Press, 12/11/2016)

• “For 28 years, DeVos has made it her mission in life to help children — especially disadvantaged children — receive a quality education. Betsy did not need to devote decades of her life to this cause. She did it because it is a labor of love, based on her strong belief that every child deserves a good education, and that education is the key to success in life.” (Bill Schuette, Op-Ed, “DeVos Right Choice For U.S. Education Secretary,” Detroit Free Press, 12/11/2016)
• “DeVos believes we should advance on all fronts: better quality in traditional public schools and better quality in charter public schools. Different children learn differently, and it makes perfect sense to offer a wide array of options for parents and children to choose from.” (Bill Schuette, Op-Ed, “DeVos Right Choice For U.S. Education Secretary,” Detroit Free Press, 12/11/2016)

MICHIGAN HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE CHAIR Rep. Amanda Price (R): “You’ve likely read that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Betsy DeVos to serve as U.S. education secretary in his administration. DeVos firmly believes a child’s zip code shouldn’t determine how far they can go in life, and that’s why she’s pushed so hard to expand opportunities for poor and at-risk children. I completely agree with DeVos that we should trust parents to make the best educational choices for their own children. . . As secretary of the U.S. education department, DeVos will show the rest of the country her passionate advocacy to improve educational outcomes for all students.” (State Rep. Amanda Price, Op-Ed, “Rep. Price: DeVos Will Be Great For Kids,” The Detroit News, 1/05/2017)

• “As the chair of the House Education Committee, I consistently hear from school leaders around the state that their schools are being micromanaged by an extensive, and growing, list of federal and state mandates. The good news is President-elect Trump and Secretary-designate DeVos share a desire to reduce the size of the federal government footprint in education. With DeVos as education secretary, we can rest assured that she’ll not pursue the kind of federal overreaches we’ve seen in the recent past.” (State Rep. Amanda Price, Op-Ed, “Rep. Price: DeVos Will Be Great For Kids,” The Detroit News, 1/05/2017)

Editorial Boards: ‘She’s Successful And Relentless. She Backs Innovation And Giving Families Escape Routes From Inferior Schools’
THE DENVER POST: “[O]n balance [Betsy DeVos] appears to be a good choice — a . . . philanthropist and political activist with a long commitment to improving education who is unafraid to challenge the status quo. For more than 20 years DeVos has pushed for greater choice in education . . . and for more accountability. . . In Denver, some charters boast among the best records in the state at elevating test scores of impoverished students. It will be good to have such a forceful advocate for charters — her husband actually founded one — leading the Education Department.” (Editorial, “Trump’s Pick For Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, Could Make Reform Reality,” The Denver Post, 12/03/2016)

• “Say what you will about DeVos, she has proven she is not afraid to take on such self-interested agents of the existing system. And that alone gives her a chance to be a first-rate education secretary.” (Editorial, “Trump’s Pick For Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, Could Make Reform Reality,” The Denver Post, 12/03/2016)

CHICAGO TRIBUNE: “We like [Betsy] DeVos. . . DeVos, a Michigan philanthropist, has helped lead the national battle to expand education opportunities for children. She and her husband, Dick, who ran the parent company of Amway, helped pass Michigan's first charter school law more than two decades ago.” (Editorial, “The Case For Betsy DeVos,” Chicago Tribune, 12/01/2016)

• “DeVos doesn't have the typical educrat's resume. But she's successful and relentless. She backs innovation and giving families escape routes from inferior schools. We think she'll breathe more oxygen into a public education industry that, in Illinois and elsewhere, resists accountability and disruptive reform while millions of children languish in low-wattage, taxpayer-owned schools.” (Editorial, “The Case For Betsy DeVos,” Chicago Tribune, 12/01/2016)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: “One promise of the Trump Presidency is that it will try to break up Washington’s political cartels. Among the worst is the Education Department, and Betsy DeVos is well positioned to take it on as Mr. Trump’s nominee to run that wholly owned subsidiary of the teachers unions and cultural left.” (Editorial, “Betsy DeVos’s School Mission,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/24/2016)

• “One of Mrs. DeVos’s tasks will be leveraging her bully pulpit and federal dollars to extend this progress to the states, where most education money is spent. She will be the most pro-choice secretary since Bill Bennett in the Reagan years . . .” (Editorial, “Betsy DeVos’s School Mission,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/24/2016)

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