When Betsy DeVos first began to work as an education reform advocate, the very topic of school choice was considered off-limits. School choice is an education reform concept that originated in the 50s when Milton Friedman penned his essay, ‘The Role of Government in Education’. Friedman made what essentially boiled down to a principled argue against government overreach in the education sector. Now, sixty-plus years later, the education sector has changed in a very dramatic way. With that being said, these changes might not be permanent. Betsy DeVos is a follower of Friedman’s school choice concept and she is also the newest Secretary of Education in the Department of Education.

Betsy DeVos kicked off her education advocacy career almost thirty years ago. After marrying Dick DeVos, the DeVos family began to focus on highlighting the problems that the education sector was dealing with. By pointing to falling grades and an ailing global school ranking, DeVos was able to bring the failing school system to the attention of parents, teachers, and students across the nation. DeVos would take her momentum and run with it as she became a grassroots organizer for school choice reformation. For nearly thirty years, DeVos traveled all over the country while working with professionals at every level of the educational field. Thanks to her committed work, DeVos has been able to extend the reach of school choice into states throughout the country. Now, more than 250,000 students are enrolled in privately owned, publicly funded educational programs.

Despite her prominent federal position and the backing of the current President, Betsy DeVos knows that she still has a long way to go before her advocacy role brings serious returns. For DeVos, success in education reform won’t truly happen until the nation as a whole adopts to these changes. Even with her pure intentions, DeVos is also going to be trapped behind the battle lines of a divided Washington D.C. Never before has American politics been so divided, at least since the Civil War. Partisan politics is quickly becoming the norm and DeVos’s plans for reformation are getting caught between her colleagues.

After narrowly being confirmed by the Senate, DeVos has had to work twice as hard as her colleagues in order to establish herself as a major player in the political scene. Her lack of federal political experience would make DeVos an outsider on day one of her new job. Despite that, DeVos has been embraced by the GOP for her work as an outsider politician. Even though she has been pushed back at every turn, DeVos continues to show that she is not nearly ready to call it a day. DeVos is quickly gaining over the respect of her administration, now can she get the people on her side?

For updates, follow Betsy DeVos on twitter.

To her critics, Betsy DeVos has always been a symbolism of the super rich having too much power. That hasn’t been the case with DeVos, however. She has said in many interviews that students come first, and they are her first priority. When you look at her policies, she has tried to make policies that allow students more choices, and it’s given families in poor neighborhoods a chance at a better school.

One of the main things under Betsy DeVos’ platform is that students would have a choice where they go to school. This has been an outrage to public school administrators and teachers who say that this means DeVos is pushing students towards private choices, instead of public systems. DeVos has called this idea ridiculous as she simply wants students to have the best options for schooling that they can receive.

Rome wasn’t built in a day either. DeVos has to deal with several other policies stemming back to the 1980s. For example, standardized testing still determines how much funding certain schools will receive. If students score poorly on standardized tests, the school will receive less resources from public funding. This has led to many schools in poorer districts receiving less and less funding, even though it would help with teaching supplies, additional instruction modules, and modern books that would help score higher grades on tests.

However, DeVos believes that students should be able to get into programs where they are happy, and they should be able to do so right now. There are so many programs besides private schools and charter schools that are available for students. They can now choose to go into magnet programs, where they can learn about music, law, or business. Many of these programs are college preparatory and allow you to take credits in high school. These magnet programs are apart of DeVos’ educational choice program.

While private schools and charter schools receive a lot of the attention, DeVos has said that these programs receive funding from philanthropy. She has a few donors who are helping to support these educational choice opportunities. Bill gates is one of the many donors who has supported charter schools since the beginning. Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Walton have also joined in on the cause.

Educational reform is a polarizing topic in the United States, but it’s clear that no one is on the same page except for Betsy DeVos, students, and their parents. Families are now able to send their kids to better schools online as well. If a student doesn’t want to attend a certain school because they are afraid of the campus or don’t want to take classes at failing programs, they can choose to get into online programs that are also free in certain states, such as Florida and Louisiana.

For updates, follow Betsy DeVos on Facebook.