Possible contenders for Trump’s next education secretary
Jennifer Kabbany
November 7, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump said several times during his campaign that he would eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, but it’s a pledge that may be more rhetoric than reality.
Still, he could pick an Education Secretary and task him or her with deeply downsizing the federal bureaucracy, which costs $80 billion annually to keep afloat.
Names were floated even prior to Tuesday’s election, including former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who in 2022 also said the department “should not exist.”
“Betsy DeVos would work for Trump again if he agreed to ‘phasing out’ the Department of Education” declared an August headline in Salon.
