The Tennessean: Brian Kelsey: Betsy DeVos highly qualified to be education secretary

The United States Senate should follow the lead of its Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in voting to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.

I have worked with Mrs. DeVos on education issues in Tennessee for several years. I know her to have both a heart for our school children and the experience to take the Department of Education to new heights.

In 2010 Mrs. DeVos founded the American Federation for Children, a national organization focused on providing greater school choice to parents. In that role for the last seven years, she has provided me and others in Tennessee with the policy expertise necessary to design successful school choice legislation.

School choice legislation allows parents to send their children to the public school, charter school, or private school that best suits their educational needs.

Mrs. DeVos has facilitated hundreds of conversations for me over the years because she has deep relationships with the greatest education policy experts in America. This team of experts will help her lead the Department of Education as it returns power to local school districts and focuses on what’s best for children—not what’s best for the educational bureaucracy.

That is why U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, Chairman of the HELP Committee, called the nomination of Mrs. DeVos an “excellent choice.” As he pointed out, she has “worked for years to improve educational opportunities for all children.”

For almost 30 years, Mrs. DeVos has fought for the rights of parents and children to receive the quality education they deserve. In her home state of Michigan, she helped pass legislation authorizing the creation of charter schools. Now, over 80 percent of the highest performing schools in English and math in Detroit are charter schools.

Mrs. DeVos has a huge heart for children, and she practices what she preaches. In addition to fighting for policies to help low-income children, she has personally mentored at-risk youth.

Mrs. DeVos believes in traditional, local public schools. She supports school choice in part because the competition from school choice has proven to improve the performance of local public schools.

Her testimony in front of the HELP committee on Jan. 17 revealed that she believes in Thomas Jefferson’s maxim: “That government is best which is closest to the people.” Mrs. DeVos will be an advocate for returning control over our schools back where it belongs, in the hands of local communities.

The American people elected President Donald Trump to shake things up in Washington. They are tired of politicians who promise results but fail to produce them. Betsy DeVos is not a politician. She is an education leader who has given her life to helping children achieve. She’s helped many already. The Senate should vote to allow her to help them all.

Republican State Senator Brian Kelsey represents Cordova, East Memphis, and Germantown. He serves on the Senate Education Committee.