Elisabeth Dee DeVos is an American politician, philanthropist, and former government official who served as the 11th United States secretary of education from 2017 to 2021.
68 Facts About Betsy DeVos
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Betsy DeVos is known for her conservative political activism, and particularly her support for school choice, school voucher programs, and charter schools.
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Betsy DeVos was Republican national committeewoman for Michigan from 1992 to 1997 and served as chair of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000, and again from 2003 to 2005.
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Betsy DeVos has advocated for the Detroit charter school system and she is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.
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Betsy DeVos has served as chair of the board of the Alliance for School Choice and the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC.
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On November 23,2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Betsy DeVos to serve as Secretary of Education in his administration.
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Betsy DeVos grew up in Holland, Michigan, the eldest of four children born to Elsa Prince and Edgar Prince, a billionaire industrialist.
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Betsy DeVos was educated at the Holland Christian High School, a private school located in her home town of Holland, Michigan.
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Betsy DeVos graduated from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in business economics in 1979.
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Betsy DeVos grew up as a member of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
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Betsy DeVos has been a member and elder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids.
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Former Fuller Seminary president Richard Mouw, with whom Betsy DeVos served on a committee, said she is influenced by Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian Abraham Kuyper, a founding figure in Christian Democracy political ideology.
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Since 1982, Betsy DeVos has participated in the Michigan Republican Party.
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Betsy DeVos served as a local precinct delegate for the Michigan Republican Party, having been elected for 16 consecutive two-year terms since 1986.
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Betsy DeVos was a Republican National Committeewoman for Michigan between 1992 and 1997, and served as chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party from 1996 to 2000.
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Betsy DeVos wrote that she expected results from her political contributions.
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In March 2016, Betsy DeVos described Donald Trump as an "interloper" and said that he "does not represent the Republican Party".
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Betsy DeVos is chairwoman of the Windquest Group, a privately held operating group that invests in technology, manufacturing, and clean energy.
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Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson expressed concerns over Betsy DeVos's nomination, writing that "Betsy DeVos isn't an educator, or an education leader".
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Republican senator Ben Sasse said Betsy DeVos "has made a career out of standing up to powerful and connected special interests on behalf of poor kids who are too often forgotten by Washington".
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The confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos was initially scheduled for January 10,2017, but was delayed for one week after the Office of Government Ethics requested more time to review her financial disclosures.
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Several media outlets reported that Betsy DeVos appeared to have plagiarized quotes from an Obama administration official in written answers submitted to the Senate committee.
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Betsy DeVos drew widespread media attention during the confirmation hearings for suggesting that guns might have a place in some schools due to a threat from grizzly bears.
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Betsy DeVos's comment was later lampooned by television personalities Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and James Corden.
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Betsy DeVos's nomination was supported by 18 Republican governors, including John Kasich and Rick Snyder, along with the nine Republican members of Congress from Michigan.
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Betsy DeVos cast his tie-breaking vote in favor of DeVos to officially confirm her as education secretary.
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Betsy DeVos said that on the basis of her first few days in the job, she had concerns that some Education Department employees were sympathetic to the Obama administration.
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Betsy DeVos named Jason Botel Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.
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Betsy DeVos appointed Julian Schmoke as the team's new supervisor; Schmoke was a former dean of DeVry Education Group, which was one of the institutions the team had been investigating.
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In February 2017, Betsy DeVos released a statement calling historically black colleges "real pioneers when it comes to school choice", causing controversy as some pointed out the schools originated after segregation laws prevented African-Americans from attending others.
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Betsy DeVos later acknowledged racism as an important factor in the history of historically black colleges.
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On March 24,2017, during a visit to the Osceola County campus of Valencia College, Betsy DeVos said she was considering the extension of federal financial aid for students that were year-round and interested in placing more focus on community colleges.
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Betsy DeVos delivered her first extended policy address on March 29,2017, at the Brookings Institution which included the topic of school choice which has been her main advocacy issue for more than 30 years.
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On May 22,2017, Betsy DeVos announced the Trump administration was offering "the most ambitious expansion" of school choice within American history.
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Betsy DeVos cited Indiana as a potential model for a nationwide policy, but did not give specific proposals.
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On June 6,2017, Betsy DeVos said states' rights would determine private schools being allocated funds by the federal government during an appearance before members of a House appropriations committee.
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On July 6,2017, Democratic attorneys-general in 18 states and Washington, DC, led by Massachusetts attorney-general Maura Healey, filed a federal lawsuit against Betsy DeVos for suspending the implementation of rules that were meant to protect students attending for-profit colleges.
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Betsy DeVos pushed for schools to re-open while coronavirus cases were still surging in large parts of the country.
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Betsy DeVos said that the Trump administration was considering pulling funding from public schools unless they provided full-time in person learning during the pandemic.
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Betsy DeVos refused to say whether schools should follow guidelines laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on reopening schools.
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On June 2,2017, Betsy DeVos announced her support of President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement the prior day.
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In October 2017, Betsy DeVos revoked 72 guidance documents of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services which outlined the rights of disabled students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Rehabilitation Act.
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In March 2018, Betsy DeVos announced a School Safety Commission, to provide meaningful and actionable recommendations.
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In late May 2018, Betsy DeVos said that she believed it was "a school decision" on whether to report a student's family to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement if the student or their family are undocumented immigrants.
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In 2019, Betsy DeVos unsuccessfully attempted to cut federal funding for the Special Olympics from her department's budget, which she had attempted to cut in her previous two annual budgets.
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The protesters physically blocked her from entering through the back entrance of Jefferson Academy, a DC public middle school in Southwest, Washington, DC Betsy DeVos was eventually able to enter the school through a side entrance.
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Betsy DeVos was touring an area designed to resemble a hospital ward at Florida International University.
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In May 2019, the Education Department inspector general released a report concluding that Betsy DeVos had used personal email accounts to conduct government business and that she did not properly preserve these emails.
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On January 7,2021, Betsy DeVos resigned from her position as Secretary of Education after the January 6 US Capitol riots.
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Betsy DeVos said in her letter to President Trump that the riots had overshadowed the accomplishments of his administration.
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Betsy DeVos was the second cabinet member to resign following the insurrection, the first being Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao.
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Betsy DeVos was listed for many years on IRS form Form 990s as the foundation's vice president.
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The Betsy DeVos Foundation has donated to hospitals, health research, arts organizations, Christian schools, evangelical missions, and conservative, free-market think tanks.
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When Betsy DeVos was appointed US Education Secretary, it was revealed that she was an elder at Mars Hill Bible Church.
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Betsy DeVos has served as chairperson, board member, and treasurer of the Acton Institute and headed the All Children Matter PAC.
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Betsy DeVos is a former member of the board of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, an education think tank founded by Jeb Bush, the chairman since 2015 of which has been former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and which has received donations from Bill Gates, Michael Bloomberg and Eli Broad.
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Betsy DeVos believes education in the United States should encourage the proliferation of charter schools and open up private schools to more students via financial assistance programs, often called vouchers.
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Betsy DeVos is known as "a fierce proponent of school vouchers" that would allow students to attend private schools with public funding.
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Betsy DeVos served as chairwoman of the board of Alliance for School Choice.
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The fine remained unpaid as of 2017, prompting calls by Democratic Party lawmakers for Betsy DeVos to settle the debt.
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Betsy DeVos has chaired the boards of Choices for Children, and Great Lakes Education Project.
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Betsy DeVos was chair of the American Federation for Children.
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Betsy DeVos has been an advocate for the Detroit charter school system.
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Douglas N Harris, professor of economics at Tulane University, wrote in a 2016 The New York Times op-ed that DeVos was partly responsible for "what even charter advocates acknowledge is the biggest school reform disaster in the country".
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In February 2017, artist Glenn McCoy created a political cartoon called Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos, based on Norman Rockwell's The Problem We All Live With.
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Betsy DeVos has been played by Kate McKinnon on Saturday Night Live multiple times, including satirizing Betsy DeVos's 60 Minutes interview in March 2018.
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Dick Betsy DeVos is a major donor to conservative political campaigns and social causes, and was the 2006 Republican nominee for Governor of Michigan.
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Rick and Betsy DeVos married in 1979, and have four grown children: Rick, Elissa, Andrea, and Ryan.