PUBLIC SCHOOL : The Washington Post - Trump picks billionaire Betsy DeVos, school voucher advocate, as education secretary : PRIVATE SCHOOL

   

  

The Washington Post - Trump picks billionaire Betsy DeVos, school voucher advocate, as education secretary:  Betsy DeVos is hardly a household name, but the Michigan billionaire and conservative activist has quietly helped change the education landscape in many states, spending millions of dollars in a successful push to expand voucher programs that give families taxpayer dollars to pay for private and religious schools.

Now DeVos is poised to spread her preference for vouchers nationwide. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named her as his nominee for education secretary, a pick that suggests he aims to follow through with campaign promises to expand the movement toward “school choice” — including vouchers and charter schools — in an effort to break up a public education system that he has called “a government-run monopoly.”