In his opening statement, committee chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., himself a former secretary of education, said DeVos is "on our children's side." "We need a change agent and an education reformer to be education secretary ... and that is exactly the kind of education secretary I believe Betsy DeVos can and will be." She asked DeVos point-blank to pledge that she would not seek to privatize public schools or take money away from them. In a letter addressed to the committee, 38 prominent education groups and teachers' organizations expressed concern that DeVos' track record bodes ill for public education. DeVos has also garnered strong backing from two dozen state governors, as well as another former education secretary, William Bennett.

Source: Fox News January 17, 2017 22:00 UTC