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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona has tested positive for COVID-19, the Department of Education announced on Tuesday. Acting Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach Kelly Leon said Cardona tested positive on Tuesday morning. Cardona is experiencing mild symptoms but is fully vaccinated and boosted, according to the statement. “Secretary Cardona will continue attending meetings and performing his duties as Education Secretary while working remotely and in isolation. The Secretary will return to in-person meetings and events when he tests negative,” Leon said. President Biden and first lady Jill Biden, both of whom had their own coronavirus breakthrough cases earlier this year,...

America's socialists -- I mean, progressives, are enraged that President-elect Trump chose Betsy DeVos to be his secretary of education. "Not a good appointment," yelled Al Sharpton. A "proponent of a for-profit institution! She does not believe in the public school system!" complained CNN's Bakari Sellers. Wait. Is your for-profit local supermarket less "public" than your kid's school? No! For-profit institutions serve the public and usually do it better than governments do. Let's stop calling government schools "public." Call them what they are: "government-run" schools. Anyway, the charter schools DeVos supports are public. They're just not controlled by the usual...

Q+A Q: What are 5 things we might not know about you? I’m a grandmother! My husband (Dick) and I have four children and five grandchildren. I was born and raised in Michigan. Born in Holland, MI, I’ve been a lifelong resident of Michigan. I’m an advocate for children. I’ve been involved with education issues for 28 years. I’ve been on the front lines fighting to make education better for all children. I’m an activist. I’m a total outsider to elective office and government, but I’m no stranger to the political process. A citizen volunteer, I have served in local,...

President-elect Donald Trump is set to nominate Betsy DeVos, a billionaire and school choice advocate, as his secretary of education. "Betsy DeVos is a brilliant and passionate education advocate," Trump said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "Under her leadership, we will reform the U.S. education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families." Official @realDonaldTrump statement re @BetsyDeVos for Education Secretary: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cx92-bUWIAA6XDr.jpg:large DeVos is the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and currently heads the American Federation for Children, which aggressively pushes for...

BREAKING NEWS: President-elect Donald Trump has named Betsy DeVos, a conservative activist and billionaire philanthropist who has pushed forcefully for private school voucher programs nationwide, as his nominee for education secretary, according to a person close to DeVos.

In 2000, she defied fellow several fellow Michigan Republicans (notably then-Gov. John Engler) to promote a statewide initiative to expand opportunities for vouchers throughout Michigan. With labor unions making a maximum effort to thwart the measure, it lost by a wide margin. Undeterred, DeVos pursued expansion of vouchers by founding an organization called American Federation of Children. The AFC seeks, according to its mission statement, “to improve our nation’s K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families.”

The Senate voted 49-40 Monday evening to confirm John B. King Jr., President Barack Obama’s nominee, as secretary of education. A total of 11 senators did not vote on King’s confirmation, while those who voted against him cited his loyalty to the system and support for Common Core education standards. King, 41, has been the acting secretary of the Department of Education since January, after Arne Duncan stepped down from the Cabinet post at the end of last year. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, spoke in support of King on the Senate floor....