Betsy DeVos, the (Relatively Mainstream) Reformer
A long record refutes the radical image of the education secretary designee
By Michael Q. McShane
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SUMMER 2017 / VOL. 17, NO. 3
Michael Q. McShane discussed the DeVos nomination with EdNext Editor-in-chief Marty West on the EdNext Podcast.
A privatization extremist. A religious zealot. A culture warrior. As President-Elect Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. secretary of education, Betsy DeVos has been painted as any or all of these things in the fevered weeks between the 2016 presidential election and her confirmation hearings. But a careful look at her record in Michigan and around the country, where she has spent decades as an advocate for children, philanthropist, and political power broker, reveals a fairly traditional, center-right education reformer. DeVos has a long history of supporting the kinds of accountability and school-choice policies that a broad swath of the education-reform community has championed over the last two decades.
Still, skepticism looms. She has accepted an invitation to serve under a decidedly nontraditional president, causing a fair amount of cognitive dissonance in the education commentariat. Is there something sinister lurking behind her decision to join the Trump administration? Is she really a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
http://educationnext.org/betsy-devos-relatively-mainstream-reformer-education-secretary/
