Like other top officials in the administration of President Barack Obama, Education Secretary John King will leave government on January 20. King gave a speech last week, talking about his hopes for education programs after Obama’s term ends. He said Americans should continue to work for schools with students and teachers who represent America’s different races, religions and ethnic groups. “I am convinced that the growing conflicts in this country over race and religion and language would be profoundly reduced if our citizens were able to learn and play alongside classmates who were different from themselves,” King said. President-elect Donald Trump replaces Obama on January 20. He has named Michigan’s Betsy DeVos to replace King. “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,” Trump said. DeVos is a supporter of charter schools. They are schools that can experiment more because they operate independently of local school boards. She also supports taxpayer money for vouchers that parents can use to pay for private school. DeVos and other Republicans say vouchers allow parents in poor communities to move their children out of failing public schools. She has said they are likely to find a better learning environment in a good private school. President Obama has supported charter schools, but not private school vouchers. Obama said he looked at studies about private school voucher programs in Washington D.C. and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “As a general proposition, vouchers has not significantly improved the performance of kids that are in these poorest communities,” Obama told Fox News in 2014.
