Betsy DeVos (Elisabeth “Betsy” DeVos) was born on January 8, 1958, in Holland, Michigan. On February 7, 2017, the Senate of the US Congress approved her as the new Minister of Education after lengthy debate, and since that moment, she became part of a Trump’s cabinet. Her family is one of the richest in Michigan, her husband operating Amway business, and their net worth is around 5.4 billion dollars.
In addition, she started her political career in 1980s and since has achieved success in Michigan and then in the US. As a member of a Republican Party, in 1986 Mrs. DeVos was elected as local precinct delegate. Later she was selected as the Republican National Committeewoman in her home state. Furthermore, along with her husband, she supported students in developing countries with scholarship programs which were created by them.
Betsy Devos is a supporter of so-called charter schools, which is the experimental type of facility that was created in the early 2000s. Such educational facilities combine elements of private and public schools. In other words, they get financial support from public funds, which provides students with free education. These initiatives have been with a backlash since if these pilot programs would be implemented nationwide, taxpayer money will be channeled to private and religious schools. For this reason, teachers who work at state schools strongly oppose such ideas since they are convinced that federal budget funds should be spent on improving ordinary schools. As for school vouchers, they provide an opportunity for parents to drop out of public schools and divert government aid to pay for their children in private and religious schools. Even though this initiative offers a chance for students to attend expensive schools, also creates several problems since it requires cuts in federal funding on education. Moreover, despite the fact that several states adopted this program, it did not display desirable results.