Donald Trump has appointed Michigan GOP philanthropist Betsy DeVos as education secretary, The Detroit News reports. DeVos, 58, has long been an advocate of expanding charter schools and voucher programs, seeing eye-to-eye with Trump on his pledge to promote school choice.
"Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate," Trump said in a statement. "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 said she was honored to help "make American education great again."
DeVos comes from a family of GOP megadonors who were reserved in their contributions for much of Trump's campaign; her appointment is seen as a nod to establishment Republicans, Politico reports.
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DeVos supports Common Core curriculum standards, which have been heavily criticized by opponents, including Trump, who called the program a "total disaster" and vowed to get rid of it. Trump has additionally promised to make education "local" as well as to create a $20 billion block grant to expand charter and private school options for low-income students.
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