Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos revealed she is open to the prospect of returning to her former post in 2025 under the new Trump administration.
After being elected to a second, non-consecutive term in the White House, President-elect Donald Trump is tasked with filling his administration with people who will help shape his agenda over the next four years – including who will lead the Education Department.
“I have been really clear about what I think needs to be the agenda, which is to get the federal tax credit passed and to de-power the Department of Education. If President-elect Trump wanted to talk to me, I would be very open to talking,” DeVos told Education Week newspaper on Thursday. DeVos was appointed by Trump as education secretary in 2017.
“But I think there’s also a lot of folks [who could do the job well],” she added, detailing what an ideal candidate for the position might look like.
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Then-President Trump speaks with then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos at a roundtable with family members of victims, state and local officials, and Cabinet members to discuss recommendations in the Federal Commission on School Safety Report in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018 in Washington, D.C. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
“I think about an ideal secretary of education, what their experience might be. A governor who’s led in their state on education reform issues. That would be a very good profile. Someone who could do the things that need to be done, could come in and hit the ground running,” she said. “The federal Department of Education is a labyrinth, a maze, and I think someone who has accomplished real reforms on a state level would be really fit and suitable for that position.”
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DeVos served as Education secretary for nearly Trump’s entire term, but she resigned the day after Jan. 6.
“I think President Trump in his second term is going to do a great service and great things to focus on families and students,” DeVos said when asked about her sudden resignation. “If you recall, my resignation was specifically out of concern for putting myself in the seat of young kids and families.”
Then-President Trump, then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and then-Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue in the press briefing room of the White House on March 27, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer)
In April, the Department of Education finalized its changes to Title IX aimed to prohibit discrimination based on sex and gender identity in federally funded institutions. Republican critics have slammed the rule change, saying it will enable biological male athletes in schools to compete on women’s sports teams.
“The second Trump administration needs to clarify these issues promptly and put an end to allowing this invasion into women’s sports,” DeVos said.
Trump has suggested that he is going to close the Department of Education when he takes office, but DeVos said it would not be that simple.
“Let’s just say, four decades of data show us that all this federal intervention does not work, has not worked,” she said. “I think more and more folks today are realizing that than they did [when Trump took office], and I think it’s ripe for discussion about how that happens and how the Department of Education is de-powered.”
Then-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks during the daily briefing on COVID-19 in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on March 27, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Jim Watson)
“The federal Department of Education has not worked for students. It’s worked for political interests, but it has not worked for students,” DeVos added.
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While on the campaign trail, Trump suggested former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy or former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin could be contenders for the top education position.
Fox News’ Kristine Parks contributed to this report.
