Trump picks charter school advocate Betsy DeVos for education secretary

President-elect Donald Trump selected a charter school advocate and GOP donor from Michigan on Wednesday to be education secretary.

Betsy DeVos becomes the second woman chosen to fill a spot in Trump’s Cabinet. Earlier Wednesday, Trump named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations earlier in the day. Both Cabinet-level positions require Senate confirmation.

While some initially cheered Haley’s selection, despite her limited experience on the international stage, the DeVos choice faced criticism even before it was formally announced Wednesday. Conservatives warned that DeVos, a longtime Republican donor, previously supported the Common Core education standards that Trump railed against during the campaign.

DeVos, from Michigan, is a longtime advocate for charter schools and school vouchers. She currently leads the advocacy group, American Federation for Children, and sits on the board of the Jeb Bush-led Foundation for Excellence in Education.

DeVos said in her own statement, “The status quo in education is not acceptable.”

The DeVos family has been active in Republican politics for decades, especially as donors to GOP candidates and the Republican Party. DeVos’ husband, Dick, is an heir to the Amway fortune and a former president of the company.

The couple gave $22.5 million to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 2010, at the time the largest private donation in the center’s history.

Hours before the DeVos pick was announced, conservative policy leader Frank Cannon, president of American Principles Project, called her “an establishment, pro-Common Core secretary of education.”

“This would not qualify as ‘draining the swamp,'” Cannon said, referencing Trump’s campaign trail slogan. “And it seems to fly in the face of what Trump has stated on education policy up to this point.”

In a statement to Fox News, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said DeVos “has no meaningful experience in the classroom or in our schools.”

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