Betsy DeVos

Betsy DeVos (born January 8, 1958, Holland, Michigan, U.S.) is an American philanthropist and Republican political activist who served as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education (2017–21) in the administration of Pres. Donald Trump.

Her father, Edgar Prince, was a wealthy industrialist who, with her mother, formed a foundation to make donations to such conservative Christian organizations as James Dobson’s Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. Her siblings included Erik Prince, founder of the private security agency Blackwater USA (after 2011, Academi). Betsy attended religious schools in Holland, Michigan, and in 1979 she earned a degree in business economics from Calvin College (Grand Rapids). That same year she married Richard (Dick) DeVos, Jr., son of the cofounder of the multilevel marketing company Amway. The couple later founded (1989) the Windquest Group, a private investment company.

Betsy, who had campaigned for Pres. Gerald Ford while still in college, became active in local Republican political organizations in western Michigan. She was chair of the Kent County Republican Party (1984–88) and of the Michigan Republican Party (1996–2000 and 2003–05), and both she and her husband donated generously to various Republican political organizations and campaigns. In 2004 she was appointed by Pres. George W. Bush to the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; she served until 2010.

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In addition, she was a strong proponent of the idea that allowing parents to use state or federally funded vouchers to send their children to private or charter schools would increase the educational opportunities available to students, a stance called school choice by its advocates. Her first involvement with that issue was as a donor to the Potter’s House, a Christian school that was located in a low-income neighborhood of Grand Rapids. In 1989 she helped found the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, which donated to charter and Christian schools, Christian-related education groups, organizations supporting school choice, and various universities and arts foundations. She and her husband started (2003) a political action committee, All Children Matter, in support of voucher programs. In 2010 she helped found the American Federation for Children, a lobbying and advocacy organization in favor of school choice, and she sat on the boards of several school-choice advocacy organizations.

In November 2016 she was nominated by President-elect Trump as secretary of education. Many education groups opposed her nomination, citing her lack of experience in public education. Opponents also objected to her advocacy for school choice, arguing that such policies took resources away from public schools and that charter schools had not been shown to outperform public schools, notably in Michigan, where a majority of charter schools were run by for-profit companies. In February 2017 she was narrowly confirmed by the Senate, 50–51, with Vice Pres. Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote. As secretary, she decreased the department’s staff and cut numerous regulations, notably in the area of civil rights protections. She also sought to lower the departmental budget.

On January 8, 2021, shortly before the end of Trump’s presidency—he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden—DeVos resigned. Her announcement came after Trump supporters, who refused to accept the election results, stormed the Capitol, where Congress was voting to certify the electors. In her resignation letter DeVos stated, “There is no mistaking the impact your [Trump’s] rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”