The United States Senate on Tuesday confirmed the charter school advocate Betsy DeVos as the education secretary. DeVos was selected by the slimmest of margins and was only approved in the end by a historic tie-breaking vote from the US Vice President Mike Pence.
DeVos, a billionaire Republican donor, has been courting controversy ever since the Trump selection team announced her as the president's pick for education secretary. During her confirmation hearing, DeVos seemed to know very little about the education system in the US and even advocated use of guns in some schools because of the threat of grizzly bears.
Who is Betsy DeVos, to-be-education secretary in Donald Trump administration?
The majority of the Democrats were against her nomination, but things appeared hard for DeVos as two Republicans , Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, also joined the opposition in an effort to derail the nomination of the Republican donor.
The tie-breaker vote to select DeVos was the first to have been used by a Vice President in the US history to break a 50-50 tie on a Cabinet nomination. Even though DeVos won, she received criticism from majority of the Senate and and was even ridiculed for her lack of experience, knowledge and confusion during her senate hearing.
DeVos' support of charter schools and her conservative religious ideology has received a sharp criticism and opposition from teachers union and civil rights activists too.
US President Donald Trump accused the Democrats of attacking the education progress in the country, and took to Twitter just before DeVos' voting to say that she will be a great education secretary.
"Betsy DeVos is a reformer, and she is going to be a great Education Sec. for our kids!" Trump wrote on Twitter.
Pence also showed his support for DeVos and told her, "I wasn't just voting for you. Having seen your devotion to improving the quality of education for some of our most vulnerable children across the nation for so many years, I was also casting a vote for America's children. I can tell you, my vote for Betsy DeVos was the easiest vote I ever cast."
After her confirmation, DeVos released a statement promising to be "a tireless advocate for all students." "Partnering with students, parents, educators, state and local leaders, Congress and all stakeholders, we will improve education options and outcomes across America," she said.
