Policy & Law

School choice advocate DeVos confirmed as education secretary

02/07/17 | Travis Pillow
Betsy Devos portrait
DeVos

After weeks of contentious debate and a marathon floor session that lasted more than 24 hours, the U.S. Senate has confirmed school choice advocate Betsy DeVos as the nation’s next education secretary in an unprecedented 51-50 vote.

Democrats held the Senate floor since noon yesterday, arguing the nominee was unqualified for the position. They questioned whether she would look after the interests of public-school students, including those with special needs and children in rural areas.

Republicans — all but two of whom supported the nominee — argued expanding school choice programs would benefit students. DeVos, they argued, has long been an advocate for children, and would reject a “national school board” and leave key policy decisions at the state level.

Some supporters, like longtime ally Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., emphasized the limits of her post.

“The Secretary of Education cannot — cannot — privatize education,” he said. “That would take an act of Congress.”

Despite the limits of her role, the new secretary will be in a position to advocate for federal school choice legislation, some of which is already on the move.

Indeed, the debate around DeVos, who has long cited Florida’s school choice policies as a model for the nation, has already elevated school choice and public education into the national political debate like never before.

DeVos has been extensively involved in this state’s education and politics for years, as recent media reports have detailed. And she’s contributed to scholarship programs administered by Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog.

In a statement, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush hailed the appointment and said he hoped the partisan rancor that marked her confirmation process would end.

“Millions of families share Secretary DeVos’s vision for disrupting a failed status quo that has denied too many children access to a quality education.  It’s time to upend the entrenched special interests that put adults above genuine reforms that will raise student achievement,” he said. “I hope the senators who opposed Secretary DeVos’s nomination will now put aside the tired arguments of the unions and come together to prioritize the needs of students.”

DeVos, for her part, emphasized her desire to help “all” students.

It will be worth watching what teachers unions and others who opposed her nomination will do now.

Other Florida groups — including a new association of conservative-leaning school board members — congratulated the new secretary.

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BY Travis Pillow

Travis Pillow is Director of Thought Leadership at Step Up For Students and editor of NextSteps. He lives in Sanford, Fla. with his wife and two children. A former Tallahassee statehouse reporter, he most recently worked at the Center on Reinventing Public Education, a research organization at Arizona State University, where he studied community-led learning innovation and school systems' responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. He can be reached at tpillow (at) sufs.org.